Visit the Piazza Navona in Rome

West to the Pantheon, on the other side of the Corso Rinascimento, lies the Piazza Navona. The square, as we know it today was created mostly by Pope Innocent X, who wanted to establish a worthy home to its family the Pamphilj Dynasty. The façade with the palace designed by Rinaldi, looked over the square. So of course, it had to be changed; Bernini placed three fountains at the square.

The figures of the Fontana Dei Fumi symbolized four great rivers of four continents, the Danube, the Nile, the Ganges and the Rio dela Plata. The wide figures are plants and animals representing these parts of the world. In the middle of the fountain, there is another Egyptian obelisk, not exactly a rare architectural element in the eternal city. When the square was created, Innocent X wanted a family temple next to his palace. He commissioned the rival of Bernini, Baromini with the work.

The St. Agnes Church contains a various special architectural solution having made a virtue out of necessity. The architect balanced the narrowness of the plot by a façade that arches backwards between the two bell towers. Which is optically emphasized by the Cupola as well, the side stairs promised a monumental interior that is actually relatively small. The earthly remains of the late pope rest under the altar. The most beautiful square in the city features several churches. The National Temple of the Germans is the Sta. Maria Dela Anima, while the church of the French is named San Luigi Dei Francesi. The shrine named after the Madonna of Peace was ordered by Pope Sixtus VI.

It is almost as if it happened unexpectedly into this square that is somewhat isolated from its surroundings but represents a wonderfully rich architectural world in its self. It inherited its shape and character from Ancient Rome. Therefore, the long row of façades forming a concave arc in the north doesn’t cleave a typically Baroque Square into the sea of houses downtown. Still, it was the Baroque that gave life to this ancient square and filled it with its special atmosphere. The Antiques Stadium was forged and shaped in the furnace of the city’s millennial history and dawned a new coat in the baroque era of Rome. So wrote British pagan in his study on art history.

The custom of flooding the Amphitheaters with water had a rebirth in 1653. When at the order of Pope Innocent X, the Piazza Navona was flooded on every weekend during the month of August. During the hot summer days, the town folk, especially the children enjoy the huge pool. While at night, the fancy coaches of the rich took circles around the fountains refreshing in the cool air as depicted by Panini’s painting as well. This festival called Festa del lago was kept regularly up until the 19th century. The figures of Fontana Del Moro and the Fontana D Nettuno are favorable in matching the figures the largest fountain. You can hardly ever find a spot to sit down at the rim.

The Piazza Navona is swarming with street painters at night or at home in every style from landscapes to portraits. The square is lined by bars, taverns and restorantes that fill up every night with merry and loud locals and foreign tourists. There are no signs in this merry world that would indicate Demitian’s former circus. Although, its base walls can still be seen in the St. Agnes Church, the saint who’s named the temple Barus was executed in the arena of that circus. The gorgeous long hair of the virgin who was stripped bare covered her whole body. A miracle protected her chastity but could not save here life.