Navona Public square
Piazza Navona is one of the most spectacular squares of Baroque Rome and a splendid example of how the ancient appearance of the city can often be traced and identified in the most popular places of its contemporary life. The elongated shape of the square repeats the structure of the Stadium of Domitian, built in the 1st century AC for sports competitions, and the remains of which are still visible beneath the present street level in Piazza di Tor Sanguigna.

The square acquired the aspect we enjoy today in the Baroque period, with the creation of Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers, and the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone, adjacent to the Palazzo Pamphilj, that were designed in part by his “rival”, Borromini. The giants on the Fountain at the centre of the piazza, inaugurated in 1651, represent the four major rivers of the continents known at the time: the Rio de la Plata, the Danube, the Ganges and the Nile, famous for its covered face that indicated the mystery of its origins, as its source had yet to be discovered.

The representation of plants and animals, along with the movement and sound of the water, seem to bring life and animation to the fountain, which is surmounted by one of the thirteen obelisks in Rome, and is decorated with the coat of arms of the Pamphilj pope. The hollow section at the centre of the structure is an ingenious idea, as it allows the viewer to see through the fountain without blocking the perception of the full extension of the square.

In the past Piazza Navona was a market place and a venue for festivals during which it used to be partially flooded for the carriage parades of local aristocratic families, and is still animated by the traditional Christmas fair, performers, street artists and many outdoor cafes. As we sit on the edge of a fountain we realize that one of Rome’s most captivating features is the correspondence between the space of art and history and our individual space. We don’t have to limit ourselves to admiring from a distance, on the contrary it seems that the city itself invites us to come closer, to become better acquainted with it and to feel that it belongs to us.

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