Piazza Navona

Lonely Planet review

Lined with Baroque palaces, this vast, beautiful piazza was laid out on the ruins of a stadium built by Domitian. In Renaissance times, it would be flooded on festive occasions so mock naval battles could be staged. Used for festivals and sport, including jousts, until the late 15th century, it was then paved over and turned into a marketplace and public square.

Originally called the Circus Agonalis, it became known in the Middle Ages as the Campus Agonis, which in time became 'n'agona' and eventually 'navona'.

The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, in the centre of the square, was designed by Bernini and completed in 1651. It depicts four rivers - the Nile, Ganges, Danube and Rio Plata. The obelisk above once stood in the Circo di Massenzio on the Via Appia Antica.

The Fontana del Moro at the southern end was designed by Giacomo della Porta in 1576; Bernini added the central figure of the Moor. The 19th-century Fontana del Nettuno, at the other end, depicts Neptune fighting a sea monster, surrounded by sea nymphs.

Facing the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi is the Chiesa di Sant'Agnese in Agone, designed by Bernini's bitter rival, Borromini.