Discover Piazza Navona

Piazza Navona is, in Turismo Roma's words, one of the most spectacular and characteristic urban complexes of Baroque Rome. Its shape is not a design decision. The square is bounded by the buildings that rose on the remains of the Stadium of Domitian, whose track keeps its original shape and dimensions — the outline you walk is the running track, and its floor lies 5 to 6 metres below the present street level.

Domitian had the stadium built for athletics and horse races; Turismo Roma dates that to 86 AD, where the reference work gives 80 AD. It seated about 30,000 and measured roughly 275 by 106 metres. The square's modern name comes from agones, Latin for games.

It became a public space in the last years of the 15th century, when the city market moved here from the Campidoglio, and was remade as Baroque theatre under Innocent X (1644–1655), whose family palace faced it. Palazzo Pamphilj has housed the embassy of Brazil since 1960. Beside it, Sant'Agnese in Agone was begun by Carlo and Girolamo Rainaldi and finished by Borromini, who altered it considerably.

Three fountains stand on one axis. At the centre, Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi of 1651 — a travertine reef hollowed by a grotto with four openings, carrying a granite obelisk recovered from the Circus of Maxentius. The four river gods are the then-known continents: the Danube with the horse, the Ganges with the oar, the Nile with its head veiled because nobody then knew where its source was, and the Rio della Plata with an armadillo.

At the ends stand two fountains by Giacomo della Porta: the Fontana del Moro (1575), to which Bernini added the figure wrestling a dolphin in 1673, and the Fountain of Neptune (1574), whose Neptune was only added by Antonio Della Bitta in 1878 — 304 years after its basin.

For two centuries this was a lake. From 1652 until 1866, every Saturday and Sunday in August, the square — then concave — was flooded for the Pamphili family's entertainments. The pavement was raised in the 19th century and the flooding stopped.

Entry is free. Piazza Navona is a short walk from the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain.

The plan is a sports ground and everything else is applied to it. Turismo Roma states that the present square's outline faithfully imitates the perimeter of the ancient stadium, whose track preserves its shape and dimensions. That is why Piazza Navona is an elongated oval with one rounded end rather than a rectangle: Greek stadia were built that way, and the reference work notes the Stadium of Domitian was patterned after Greek stadia, its floor plan typical, with a similarly semi-circular end.

What is missing is the height. The arena was about 275 by 106 metres and held some 30,000, with outer perimeter benches 30 metres above ground level and inner benches 4.5 metres above the arena floor. Picture a ten-storey oval wall where the palazzo fronts now stand, in brick and concrete clad in marble, with facades the reference work says would have resembled the Colosseum's.

The central fountain is a hole in a rock. Turismo Roma describes the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi as conceived as a great travertine reef, hollowed by a grotto with four openings, carrying a granite obelisk. Supporting a tall obelisk on a pierced rock is the structural joke: the mass that should hold it up is cut away on all four sides.

Four rivers, four continents, each with its own evidence. The river gods represent the continents through which papal authority had spread. The Danube has the horse and reaches to the pope's arms, being the great river nearest Rome; the Ganges carries a long oar for the river's navigability, with the dragon; the Nile has the lion and the palm and its head veiled, because nobody then knew where its source was; the Rio della Plata raises an arm, with an armadillo beside it, sits on a pile of coins for the riches America could offer Europe, and appears frightened of a snake.

The obelisk is a Roman copy of an Egyptian one, topped with the Pamphili dove carrying an olive twig — the same dove that appears twice in marble on the upper rock, in the family arms.

The end fountains were built first and finished last. Both basins are Giacomo della Porta's: Neptune's in 1574, the Moro's with its four Tritons in 1575. Bernini added the wrestling figure to the Moro in 1673; the Neptune statue arrived in 1878, by Antonio Della Bitta, and only to balance the other end.

The one concave front is the church. Sant'Agnese in Agone was begun by Carlo and Girolamo Rainaldi and completed by Borromini, who altered it considerably. Beside it, Palazzo Pamphilj is Girolamo Rainaldi's and holds a long gallery designed by Borromini and frescoed by Pietro da Cortona.

Nobody built this square. They built a stadium, and the square is what was left when the stadium was robbed. The reference work records that after the fall of the Western Empire the stadium fell into ruin, being quarried for building materials. The marble cladding went; the brick-and-concrete substructures stayed in the ground, and medieval and later buildings went up on them. That is why the perimeter is exact: each house inherited a foundation.

The floor rose instead of being dug out. The stadium's remains are now 5 to 6 metres below the present street level, and the reference work notes the pavement level was raised in the 19th century. The arena floor was never removed — it was buried.

The fountains went in over three centuries, out of order. Della Porta's two basins came first, in 1574 and 1575. Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi followed in 1651, under Innocent X (1644–1655), whose family palace faced the piazza. Bernini's figure for the Moro came in 1673, and Della Bitta's Neptune in 1878.

The obelisk was moved in pieces. The reference work records the Obelisk of Domitian as brought in pieces from the Circus of Maxentius; Turismo Roma describes it as recovered from the Circus of Maxentius on the Appia Antica. It was then re-erected on a rock deliberately cut through with four openings — the hard part of the job, and the part that is meant to look effortless.

And the paving was shaped to hold water. Turismo Roma records that the square then had a concave floor, which is how it could be partly flooded on August weekends. Flattening it in the 19th century is what ended the practice.

Is there an entrance fee? No. Piazza Navona is an open public square with no ticket and no closing time, and Turismo Roma publishes neither a price nor an opening hour for it.

Why is it that shape? Because it is a stadium. Turismo Roma records that the square is bounded by buildings raised on the remains of the Stadium of Domitian, whose track preserves its shape and dimensions, and that the present outline faithfully imitates the ancient perimeter.

How big was the stadium? Roughly 275 metres long by 106 wide, seating about 30,000, with outer benches 30 metres above ground.

When was it built? The sources differ. Turismo Roma says 86 AD; the reference work's Piazza Navona article says 80 AD, and its Stadium of Domitian article says commissioned around AD 80 and dedicated in AD 86.

Can I see the stadium? Turismo Roma says the remains lie 5 to 6 metres below today's street level and can still be seen under a modern building in Piazza di Tor Sanguigna and in the basement of Sant'Agnese in Agone.

Where does the name come from? From Agones, which Turismo Roma notes is Latin for Games. The stadium was known as the Circus Agonalis.

What do the four statues mean? They are river gods for the continents then known: Danube (Europe, with the horse), Ganges (Asia, with the oar and dragon), Nile (Africa, lion and palm, head veiled because its source was unknown) and Rio della Plata (America, arm raised, armadillo).

Who made the fountains? The central Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi is Bernini's, 1651. Both end fountains are Giacomo della Porta's — Neptune's basin 1574, the Moro's 1575. Bernini added the Moro's wrestling figure in 1673; the Neptune statue is Antonio Della Bitta's, 1878.

Was the square really flooded? Yes. From 1652 until 1866, every Saturday and Sunday in August, for the Pamphili family's celebrations — the square then had a concave floor. The pavement was raised in the 19th century.

How long should I allow? Thirty to forty minutes.