A masterpiece of the Roman Baroque, Piazza Navona is not just a square, but a kaleidoscope of history, art and curiosities, where the warm colors of the historic facades blend with the eternal architectural challenge that saw Bernini and Borromini as protagonists. An ancient Roman stadium, later transformed into a lively place for markets and popular festivals, Piazza Navona, with that air of being Rome’s best parlor, popular and aristocratic at the same time, is a lively crossroads of tourists, street artists and Romans who, without hesitation or fear, return to stroll here again and again. And you, are you ready to lose yourself among the thousand surprises of this Roman jewel?
Piazza Navona: under the sign of the agone
Let’s start with its unique shape. Have you ever wondered why Piazza Navona has a characteristic oval shape, especially visible when viewed from above? Let’s take a step back (or rather, more than one!) and catapult ourselves into the 1st century, more precisely between 85 and 86, when the emperor Domitian decided to build a huge stadium on this site, driven by his passion for athletic games of Greek origin. The structure of the stadium was inspired by the stadiums of Olympia and Athens, with one end in the shape of a semicircle and the other straight and slightly oblique. The stadium was also decorated with refined architectural elements and sculptures of Greek inspiration, probably including the famous talking statue of Pasquino, now located in Piazza San Pantaleo, a stone’s throw from Piazza Navona.
And here, a brief digression is in order. Today it appears as a rather battered and uncommunicative marble torso, yet between the 16th and 19th centuries it was the undisputed king of “piazza gossip”. Depicting Menelaus, immortalized while supporting the body of Patroclus, it was discovered in 1501 near Piazza Navona and placed in its current location by Cardinal Oliviero Carafa, who was ready to become a sort of influencer of the time. At his feet (or, often, around his neck) were hung placards with satirical verses directed at the powerful and arrogant, the so-called “pasquinades”, which gave voice to popular discontent with biting irony. In practice, Pasquino was the embodiment of that joke we’d all like to make, but don’t have the courage to say out loud.
But now let’s go back to our stadium. With a length of 265 meters and a width of 106 meters, it could hold up to 30,000 spectators and was the center of spectacular athletic competitions. The square’s current name also derives from its illustrious past: the word “agones”, as the gymnastic competitions were called at the time, was transformed into “agone”, “innagone”, “navone” and finally, Navona. If you close your eyes, you can almost hear the roar of the Roman crowd, as the best athletes competed for glory.
But glory, as you know, is fleeting. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the stadium was abandoned and, over the centuries, it was transformed into a town square. Its oval shape, however, remains intact to this day, as if to pay silent homage to its past.
During the Middle Ages, the cavea of the stadium was gradually occupied by houses and the ruins were integrated into the new buildings, while the arena was used for markets, especially fruit and vegetable markets. But fortunately, not everything has been lost! During various excavation campaigns, which took place between the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, numerous archaeological finds have been unearthed, including marble busts, which can now be visited, together with the remains of the Stadium of Domitian, in the underground tunnels of Piazza Navona. The entrance is in Piazza di Tor Sanguigna, where you can take a look at the ancient remains through an opening at street level. The environment below is an alternation of imposing structures, such as steps, arches on pillars and brick walls, illuminated by a poetic natural light, which filters through strategic small cloisters. The underground areas are open to the public and offer various types of guided tours (for information, consult the official website of the Stadium of Domitian (link to the website).
A concentration of art, rivalry and intrigue
It’s time to take a leap forward in time to the 17th century when Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pamphilj, an ambitious prelate who, in 1644, would become Pope Innocent X, decided to build a sumptuous palace in Piazza Navona, on the site of a few of the family houses, when he asked himself “Why not use a corner of Rome for a modest residence? on the site of some of the family houses. Not exactly modest, however. The sumptuous Palazzo Pamphilj, designed by the architect Girolamo Rainaldi, conceals Borromini masterpieces such as the Palestrina Room and the Cortona Gallery, the latter frescoed by Pietro da Cortona with scenes from the life of Aeneas. Today, the palace houses the Brazilian Embassy and can be visited free of charge every Monday and Wednesday (for information, click here).
But beware: the real star of the transformation of Piazza Navona is Donna Olimpia Maidalchini, the pope’s sister-in-law and a shrewd and unscrupulous woman with a penchant for power and luxury. In 1647 Pope Innocent X ordered the construction of a fountain in the center of the square, in place of a horse trough. Who to entrust the project to? At first, it seemed that the architect Francesco Borromini was the obvious choice. But never underestimate the genius (and cunning) of his rival Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Excluded from the Pope’s favors – or rather, from those of Donna Olimpia – Bernini pulled off a plot twist worthy of a novel, having her delivered a silver model of the fountain: elegant, brilliant, irresistible. Donna Olimpia, who (also) had a weakness for precious objects, showed the model to the Pope, who approved the project. The result? The magnificent Fountain of the Four Rivers, one of the absolute masterpieces of the Roman Baroque, was created by Bernini. And that’s not all. Bernini also worked on the Fontana del Moro, located right in front of the Pamphilj family palace. Borromini, on the other hand, didn’t just stand by and watch, and designed the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone, a majestic building that today houses the remains of Innocent X himself and some of his relatives. So, the next time you stroll among its fountains, think of Bernini winning over the pope with a silver model, of Donna Olimpia orchestrating power like a chess queen, and of all the secrets hidden behind its marble. With a story like that, who needs TV series?
The baroque lake that drove Rome mad
In the summer of 1652 Pope Innocent X decided to add a touch of aquatic madness to the Eternal City and to this much-loved square. Obviously he didn’t act alone, but his enterprising sister-in-law was always raging alongside him. With a stroke of genius (or madness, depending on your point of view) they had the drains of the monumental fountains in the square blocked off, allowing the water to submerge the central part of the square, which at the time was slightly concave, transforming it into a huge urban swimming pool. Nobles and commoners alike rushed to splash about in the fun, crossing the flooded square on horseback, in carriages and with handcarts, which often ended up miserably soaked. The lake in Piazza Navona became an unmissable event in Roman summers until 1866, when Pope Pius IX decided to put an end to this tradition. Thus the Romans said goodbye to the water and the laughter, but not to the square, which has always remained spectacular. Shall we try to get to know it better?
Where water becomes art
Starting from the southern side of Piazza Navona, don’t run straight towards the Fountain of the Rivers, but let yourself be enchanted by a first aquatic wonder. A perfect mix of baroque elegance and seafaring force, the Fontana del Moro is a multi-lobed fountain designed in 1576 by Giacomo della Porta, which Gian Lorenzo Bernini transformed into a spectacular setting, populated by tritons and sea creatures. The pièce de résistance? A central sculpture that captures all the energy of the sea: a newt, sculpted by Giovanni Antonio Mari, a pupil of Bernini, caught in the act of struggling to hold back an enormous fish. The marked somatic features of this figure so impressed the Romans that they affectionately nicknamed it “the Moor”, a name that the fountain still bears today.
Fountain of the Four Rivers
At this point, it’s time to head towards the center of Piazza Navona, where you’ll find a true visual story, which Bernini skillfully sculpted in marble between 1648 and 1651. The Fountain of the Four Rivers is a work that not only captures the eye, with its huge sculpted figures that seem to move, but also fascinates the ear, thanks to the powerful roar of the water, and transports anyone who observes it to faraway lands. Yet, to truly grasp the wonder of this work, you need to get up close and observe its most hidden details. The four marble giants, representing the major rivers of the then known continents, the Nile, the Ganges, the Danube and the Río de la Plata, were sculpted by Bernini’s most trusted collaborators, Giacomo Antonio Fancelli, Claude Poussin, Antonio Raggi and Francesco Baratta respectively. The Nile, with its veiled face, hides the mystery of its sources, which remained unknown until the 19th century; the Río de la Plata, on the other hand, is the protagonist of a curious legend: if, for centuries, its arm raised has been considered a gesture of criticism towards the adjacent facade of the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone, designed by Borromini (a thesis refuted by the fact that, when Bernini created the Fountain of the Four Rivers, the place of worship had not yet been built), in reality it could indicate amazement at the sight of the sunset. But, do you see those plants growing at the foot of the Río de la Plata? Yes, they are prickly pears, exotic symbols of faraway worlds at the time!
And that’s not all. Bernini placed all kinds of animals next to the rivers: an African lion under a palm tree blowing in the wind, an armadillo (a “monster” to the ancient Romans) climbing a rock, a big fish swimming in the pond, a sea snake coming out of the water and a ground snake slithering along. Observe the fountain carefully and have fun finding them. But beware! According to a sinister belief, a witch once cast the so-called lovers’ curse: lovers who walk in an anticlockwise direction around the Fountain of the Four Rivers will break up within six days. The legend has never been confirmed or denied; therefore, the verdict is up to you.
The fountain is surmounted by an enormous Roman obelisk, found on the Appian Way, on top of which stands a dove with an olive branch, in memory of the coat of arms of the Pamphilj family, the family of Pope Innocent X. Not everyone, however, is familiar with Bernini’s joking side. An anecdote from the time tells that on the day of the inauguration of the fountain, in 1651, Pope Innocent X was fascinated by its powerful beauty, but also amazed by the total absence of water! Bernini made it gush, as if by magic, just a few minutes before those present left the square, to everyone’s amazement.
Photo Fountain of Neptune
Leaving behind us the grandiose Fountain of the Four Rivers, with its Bernini-esque “wow effect”, let’s head towards another jewel of Piazza Navona: the Fountain of Neptune, a triumph of water and marble, but also a tale of mythological battles, artists, popes and… pots! It stands elegantly at the northern end of the square and was once known as the Fontana dei Calderai, from the name of the ancient vicolo dei Calderai (or Calderari), a narrow street full of blacksmiths’ shops and sellers of crockery. In short, a perfect place to stock up on kitchen utensils in the 16th century.
The fountain was designed in the 16th century by Giacomo Della Porta, but it had to wait a long time for its “definitive look”: the sculptures you see today were added in 1878, thanks to Antonio Della Bitta and Gregorio Zappalà. The first sculpted the mighty Neptune fighting an octopus (and there’s no need to root for one side or the other: Neptune always wins!), while Zappalà added the Nereids, cherubs and sea horses, making the scene even more spectacular.
But now let’s take a step back. In 1574 Pope Gregory XIII commissioned Della Porta to build two fountains to be placed at the ends of Piazza Navona. The Fountains of the Moor and of Neptune were thus erected. While Bernini completed the Fontana del Moro because it was located right in front of Palazzo Pamphilj, the home of Donna Olimpia Maidalchini, the Neptune fountain remained in a state of neglect until 1873, when the Municipality of Rome organized a competition to embellish it. And so Neptune appeared, with the octopus and the other sculptural elements, giving the fountain its current appearance and the name we all know.
Sant’Agnese in Agone: Baroque that embraces
Now let’s prepare for a breathtaking journey to the Church of St. Agnes in Agony, one of the jewels of the Roman Baroque. Built in 1651 on the site where the young Agnes was martyred in the 4th century, this church is an explosion of marble, frescoes, sculptures and architectural genius. Look at the façade: it almost seems to embrace you, with its concave shape that captures and pushes upwards, where the double columns and pillars climb up to the lantern of the dome. To achieve this effect, Borromini invaded the adjacent buildings. Do you see that big window under the left bell tower? It’s not part of the church, but of the Palazzo Pamphilj.
The construction of the church was a real game of musical chairs: it was started by the Rainaldi (Girolamo and his son Carlo), then Borromini came on the scene and worked on it for four years before being replaced again by Carlo Rainaldi, until, in 1672, the church was completed. The interior is captivating with its textbook chromatic contrast: the white of the marble, the red of the Persian stone and the green of the columns of the main altar, taken from the Arch of Marcus Aurelius in Piazza Colonna. And now, are you ready for a little adventure? Near the chapel of San Filippo Neri, a staircase leads to a crypt where the Pamphili family members are buried; while from the chapel of Sant’Agnese you can reach the Sacellum Infimum, the cave where the saint was martyred. Thanks to a recent restoration, the crypt and its frescoes have been returned to their original splendor.
The right tips for a top visit!
What is the most suggestive way to reach Piazza Navona? We have two suggestions for you. You can walk along Corso del Rinascimento, starting from Piazza di Sant’Andrea della Valle or from Piazza delle Cinque Lune; and, trust us, the journey already begins here! This street is dotted with small and large surprises, such as the majestic Palazzo della Sapienza and the Church of Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, a masterpiece by Borromini, with its spiral dome, resembling a curl of whipped cream. In Via degli Staderari, a side street off the main road, you’ll find the Fountain of Books, created in 1927 based on a design by the architect Pietro Lombardi. Set into the wall, it is decorated with four large books carved in stone, with the head of a deer inserted among them, from whose mouth a small jet of water flows. It is a tribute from the Municipality of Rome, in memory of the ancient districts and trades that have disappeared. And again, you can’t miss Palazzo Madama, today the seat of the Senate of the Republic. This imposing building was erected in the 15th century by the Florentine Medici family, and owes its name to Madama Margherita of Austria, wife of Duke Alessandro de’ Medici, who stayed in the palace for a long time. At this point, walk along Corsia Agonale (which takes its name from the games that were held in the Stadium of Domitian) and… enjoy the view! Or you can take Via della Cuccagna, which starts from Piazza San Pantaleo and almost looks like a secret corridor. As soon as you cross the visual arch created by the historic buildings that face onto it, Piazza Navona will open up in all its majesty, like an open-air theater.
