The “wicked stairs” of the Piazza Campidoglio were designed by Michelangelo, who was commissioned by one of the popes (Julius the hmmm hmmm hmmm?) to redesign the piazza on top of the Capitoline hill. Too pagan. Too run down. Michelangelo designed the staircase along with the palazzos, the paving, etc. The staircase is what would happen if you crossbred a stairway and a ramp. It is a staircase of very wide, very shallow steps and was actually put in place so that a man on horseback could ascend the hill without dismounting. It is guarded at the top by statues of two such horsemen — Castor and Pollux, who apparently enjoyed riding horseback in the altogether. Going bareback while riding bareback, so to speak. To each his own, of course, but you would think that would kind of chafe, wouldn’t you? So the wicked staircase had a marvelous purpose and actually seems less onerous to climb than a regular staircase.

Unless, of course, the previous writer was talking about the steps leading up to the Santa Maria in Aracoeli church itself. Those stairs ARE wicked.