Piazza Navona

Navona Square is one of the most famous squares of Rome, founded at the behest of Pope Innocent X. Its shape reproduces the ancient Domitian Stadium, built by the Emperor in 85: 276 meters long and 106 wide, it housed 30.000 spectators and was richly decorated with statues. The current obelisk comes, instead, from the Circus Maxentius, on the Via Appia. In the nineteenth century, the Square was home "race to the jockey". Symbol of the Roman Baroque, the Square is decorated with architectural and sculptures masterpieces that celebrate the house of the client, the Pamphili, including the eponymous Palace. To realize the Square were demolished several blocks, while the race for the award of the work was a real dispute between the principal architects of the time, Bernini and Borromini: the legend of the rivalry of the two concerns the construction of the famous "Fountain of the Four Rivers", the main symbol of the square (Bernini) and the Church of St. Agnes in Agony (Borromini and Rainaldi). The other two fountains in the Square are: the "Fountain of the Moor", sculpted by Giacomo della Porta and retouched by Bernini, and the "Fountain of Neptune", by Gregorio Zappalà and Antonio Della Bitta. On the Square overlook the Braschi Palace, Lancellotti, Pamphili, and Tuccimei. Navona Square was home to a historic neighborhood market, gathered in the Campo de 'Fiori for reasons of tourism use of space and revived only at Christmas time, upon the arrival of the famous "Befana of Navona Square". After the War, the Square has become a meeting place and inspiration for painters, designers and street artists.

(Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pinomoscato/)