Piazza Navona
A long Baroque square on the outline of Domitian’s stadium, with Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers.
Piazza Navona keeps the exact shape of the stadium Emperor Domitian built here in the 1st century for athletic contests; the houses stand on its old stands. In the 17th century Pope Innocent X made it a showpiece of Baroque Rome.
In the middle stands Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers, with the Nile, the Ganges, the Danube and the Río de la Plata around an obelisk. Facing it is Borromini’s church of Sant’Agnese in Agone, his great rival’s work.
More in Rome
ColosseumThe great amphitheatre of ancient Rome, opened in AD 80 for gladiator fights before some 50,000 people.
PantheonA temple to all the gods rebuilt under Hadrian, with the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.
Trevi FountainRome’s grandest fountain, where a coin thrown over your shoulder means you will come back.
Roman ForumThe heart of ancient Rome: temples, basilicas and the Senate house, in a valley between the hills.
VittorianoThe huge white marble monument to Victor Emmanuel II on Piazza Venezia, nicknamed the typewriter.
Campo de’ FioriA lively square with a morning market and, in the middle, the hooded statue of Giordano Bruno.
Column of Marcus AureliusA marble column carved with the emperor’s wars along the Danube, standing on Piazza Colonna since the 2nd century.
Largo di Torre ArgentinaFour temples of the Republic sunk below the street, beside the spot where Julius Caesar was murdered.
VespaThe scooter that put post-war Italy on two wheels and rode through Roman Holiday.
NasoniThe little cast-iron drinking fountains on Rome’s street corners, running with fresh water all day.
SampietriniThe small black cobblestones of basalt that pave the streets of old Rome.
CarbonaraPasta with egg, guanciale, pecorino and black pepper: Rome’s own dish, with never a drop of cream.