Piazza Navona 🇮🇹

Piazza Navona is an elongated oval public plaza situated in Rome, Italy. The square retains the distinct contour of the ancient Stadium of Domitian, which was constructed in 80 AD under Emperor Titus Flavius Domitianus. Originally known as the Circus Agonalis, the location served as an arena where ancient Romans gathered to view competitive athletic games. Following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the stadium fell into ruin and was dismantled over time for building materials, leaving only sparse physical remnants today.

During the final years of the fifteenth century, the space was formally defined as a public plaza when the city market was relocated there from the Campidoglio. The square underwent a major artistic transformation during the seventeenth-century pontificate of Innocent X, who ruled from 1644 to 1655. This era established the plaza as a prominent centerpiece of Roman Baroque architecture and art, centered largely around the presence of the pope's family residence.

Facing the plaza is the Palazzo Pamphili, designed by Girolamo Rainaldi, which contains a long gallery designed by Francesco Borromini and decorated with frescoes by Pietro da Cortona. Nearby stands the Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, an architectural work created by Borromini alongside Girolamo and Carlo Rainaldi. Additional historical structures surrounding the square include the Palazzo de Cupis, Palazzo Torres Massimo Lancellotti, Palazzo Braschi—which houses the Museo di Roma—the Church of Nostra Signora del Sacro Cuore, and the Stabilimenti Spagnoli.

At the center of Piazza Navona stands the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, or Fountain of the Four Rivers, completed in 1651 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. This monument is crowned by the Obelisk of Domitian, brought to the site in pieces from the Circus of Maxentius. Two additional sculpted fountains anchor the ends of the plaza, both originally designed by Giacomo della Porta in the late sixteenth century. At the southern end, the Fontana del Moro features a basin with four Tritons from 1575, to which Bernini added a figure of a Moor wrestling a dolphin in 1673. To the north sits the Fountain of Neptune, which received its central statue by Antonio Della Bitta in 1878.

Throughout its history, the plaza hosted dramatic performances and temporary public activities. Between 1652 and 1866, the space was flooded on August weekends for elaborate celebrations honoring the Pamphili family. The pavement level was raised during the nineteenth century, and the market was transferred to Campo de' Fiori in 1869. Today, an annual Christmas market takes place in the square from the first week of December until the first week of January.

Piazza Navona in pictures