Things to do nearPiazza Navona

Piazza Navona occupies the site of the ancient Stadium of Domitian, built in the first century AD for athletic competitions. The stadium's long, curved shape survived into the medieval period as the neighborhood grew up around and literally over its walls, which is why the piazza retains that distinctive elongated oval to this day. By the seventeenth century it had become one of Rome's most important public gathering places, and the popes of the baroque era transformed it into a showcase of art and architecture.

The square's dominant feature is Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers, completed in 1651. The four colossal figures represent the Nile, the Ganges, the Danube, and the Rio de la Plata, symbolizing the four continents then known to Europeans. Two smaller fountains anchor the north and south ends of the piazza, and the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, designed partly by Borromini, frames the western edge with its concave facade.

Today Piazza Navona pulses with the energy of a living neighborhood square. Street artists, portrait painters, and occasional musicians occupy the space throughout the day. The nearby Pantheon is only a short walk east, making the two sites a natural pairing for a morning on foot. Further afield, the Trevi Fountain is reachable in under twenty minutes on foot.

Few places in Rome so effortlessly layer ancient, medieval, and baroque history into a single open space, and that rare continuity is reason enough to spend real time here.