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| Piazza Navona |
The Piazza Navona is a bustling place with diners eating al fresco and tourists wandering around, enjoying the spectacle of the fountains and statues.
Bernini’s Fontana
dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) was built in 1651 and
includes the Obelisk of Domitian. Domitian was
the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty, and the 11th emperor of the
Roman Empire. There
are two other fountains – the Fontana del Moro and the Fontana del Nettuno.
This is an
interesting area. Outside the ‘modern’ piazza are signs of the Stadio di Domiziano (Stadium of
Domitian), which occupied this area before the new era brought fountains and
sculptures to the city. Excavations have been left visible from the pavement
and to the untrained eye you might believe you were just looking at the
foundations of the relatively more modern 17th century Sant’Agnese in Agone (also
called Sant’Agnese in Piazza Navona).
Although I didn’t venture inside, I
have seen photos of the shrine – and skull – of poor St Agnese. She wasn’t, apparently, in agony – Agone is from the Greek and means ‘in the
site of the competitions’ – the stadium being built on a Greek model of a
sporting arena.
