Heading out in the morning we grab coffees and pastries from the shop down the stairs from our flat (we are practically locals now) and head off in search of Piazza Navona. Originally built by the emperor Domitian in AD 81-96 as a stadium for games and sporting competitions, and later used for animal fights and gladiator combats, the buildings surrounding the square sit on top of what used to be the stands which could hold about 30,000 spectators. Walking through it, seeing the lovely trattorias, coffee shops, palaces and churches it is hard to imagine it as the site of so much brutality, but indeed it was. Much later it became the site of the main market as well as the site of several nobleman’s palaces during the Renaissance. Pope Innocent X commissioned the famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers- the fountain featured so prominently in Dan Brown’s book Angels and Demons). To our disappointment this particular fountain is undergoing restoration (okay to be fair it’s great that Rome, the whole of Italy really, is ensuring that these historical treasures are preserved- and it is strictly selfishness on our part that I say we are disappointed. . . .but there it is- we are selfish travelers). So we are unable to see the fountain but we certainly know about it. Bernini’s design is one of the greatest examples of Baroque sculpture in the world. It rises above the piazza (even encased in scaffolding and sheets, it is really enormous), and pays tribute to the world as it was known at the time of its erection, acknowledgments going to the continents who, at the time, were under papal influence. The four rivers personified as large, muscular god-like men are the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile and the Rio de la Plata with each surrounded by the flora and fauna of their respective geographical areas.
Facing the fountain from the side of the piazza is an imposing building- a church, in fact, dedicated (by Pope Innocent X as well) to Saint Agnes. The church, Saint Agnes in Agone, is built on the site of her martyrdom. In 304 AD, during the rule of emperor Diocletian, it was decreed that Agnes, then 12-13 years of age, be married to the son of a prominent Prefect. When she refused, wanting instead to have God in her life, she was taken by the Prefect, dragged naked through the streets to a brothel (it was against the law to execute a virgin), where she was to be raped. Praying for salvation, the men who tried to rape her were unable to and were immediately struck blind. Thereupon it was decided that she should be burnt at the stake. Having built a pyre and lashing Agnes to the pole, the wood refused to ignite. In anger, the officer in charge of her execution drew his sword and beheaded her. Pope Innocent’s imposing edifice is set central to the piazza, with it’s large dome and bell towers standing tall over everything else. It is undeniably the most eye-catching building in the piazza.
The 19th century saw the piazza holding much more festive past-times, one of which is the most indicative (to myself anyway), of the self-indulgence of the of the upper classes of that time- in August the piazza was flooded with water so the nobility could drive their carriages through it, while the slightly less upper classes had to make do with paddling boats around. It is said that they also held mock naval battles for amusement. That would have been quite a sight to behold.
Nowadays it is simply the busiest square in Rome, where artists and musicians converge, where you can sit and enjoy an espresso (as long as you are willing to pay the toll for sitting at a table); the place where you can see lovers strolling by arms linked, or mothers with children eating their gelato, even nuns enjoying a thin crust pizza. A cross section of the Roman population all within the confines of an old stadium. It doesn’t get any better than this!
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