Piazza Navona

Of all my memories of Rome from 28 years ago, Piazza Navona seemed to stand out the most. It's a spacious, oval-esk rectangle-esk square that has three of the most amazing fountains in Rome - in my opinion.  I can remember myself and my school friend wandering the square and marveling at the fountains - well, until we got distracted by gelato. I guess not a lot has changed over the years.

 

 

 

 
 

The piazza was built on the site of the "Stadium of Domitian" in the 1 century AD.  That was a LONG, LONG, LONG time ago and it amazes me it's still standing.  It's said that the Roman's in the 1st century came here to watch the "games" or competitions. I'm assuming this was before the coliseum was built for those purposes. 

 

Piazza Navona is full of Baroque Roman architecture and displays three amazing fountains designed by Bernini.  

 

The center fountain is called Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (The Four Rivers). It features four figures that each represents a river from a different continent: the Nile, Ganges, Danube and Rio de la Plata.  These statues sit at the base of a rock that is supporting a huge Egyptian obelisk in the middle.

 

 

There are two other fountains in the piazza as well. At the southern end is the Fontana del Moro (Moor Fountain) that has 4 tritons and was sculpted in 1575. To the north end of the piazza sits the Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune). Both fountains were scuplted by Giacomo della Porta.

A nun sitting in front of the Fontana del Moro

One of the four tritons

Fontana del Nettuno

Mom, Suzi and I in front of the Fontana del Nettuno

The piazza was crowed the day we arrived. It's a local hang out for school kids when they've finished the day of studies. I mean who wouldn't want to hang out in this piazza and eat gelato.