Piazza del Popolo

Lonely Planet review

Perch yourself on a bench in this vast, vibrant square and you'll see all of Rome pass by: commuters rushing to the metro, excitable adolescents, dressed-to-kill shoppers, flagging tourists, buskers and black-clad carabinieri (police).

The piazza was laid out in 1538 at the point of convergence of three roads - Via di Ripetta, Via del Corso and Via del Babuino - which form a trident at what was Rome's northern entrance. In fact, this part of central Rome is today known as Il Tridente.

Characterised by Carlo Rainaldi's twin 17th-century baroque churches, Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Chiesa di Santa Maria in Montesanto, the square was redesigned in neoclassical style by Giuseppe Valadier in 1823.

On the northern flank, the inner face of the Porta del Popolo was decorated by Bernini to celebrate Queen Christina of Sweden's defection to Catholicism. In the centre is an obelisk brought by Augustus from Heliopolis, in ancient Egypt, and moved here from the Circo Massimo in the mid-16th century. To the east a ramp leads up to the Pincio Hill Gardens.