The monumental steps, recently attributed World Heritage status by Unesco, were constructed in the 17th century to fulfil an important town-planning function, namely connecting the upper district of the city, the seat of religious power centred on the ancient Church of the Madrice, with the lower area, the seat of civil power centred on Palazzo Sanatorio. To mark the feast of San Giacomo ... the steps are transformed into a genuine tapestry of lights. Thousands of small coloured paper lamps, containing a small oil lantern are placed on the steps and lit in the evening to create enormous patterns, which are different on each occasion. On other days of the year the steps of S. Maria del Monte did not have any nocturnal illumination to reveal their architectural strength. The new lighting aims to achieve results of exceptional quality in terms of both perception and the system: a very small-sized projector was chosen with a 70W Philips Mastercolour lamp installed in pair. The optical part is tilted 45° forwards and 15° in the direction of the climb: this ensures good lighting on the steps, climbing softly up the facades but also lighting up the risers well while not being visible from the bottom of the steps. The distance between the floodlights produces an intentionally uneven lighting, in a "zebra-skin pattern", which, owing to the perspective effect of denser areas of light and shade, reveals the structure of the steps, along their entire length. (E. Pulvirenti, FLARE n° 34, December 2003, pgg. 64-71)