Piazza Navona, Rome

Piazza Navona is one of the most famous monumental squares in Rome, built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, where the Romans went to watch games. Originally the name of the square was "in Agone" (from the Latin "in agonis", meaning "games"). The name changed over time to "in avone", "navone" and then "Navona". It was brought to its current monumental style, a symbol of Baroque Rome architecture, during the pontificate of Pope Innocent X (born Giovanni Battista Pamphili), between 1644 and 1655, by the Pamphili family, whose palace, Palazzo Pamphili, faced the piazza. In the middle of the piazza there is the famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or Fountain of the Four Rivers (1651) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, having in its center the Obelisk of Domitian, a Roman copy of an Egyptian obelisk, moved here from Circus of Maxentius. At the south end of the piazza is the Fontana del Moro (1575) by Giacomo della Porta, with a statue of a Moor by Bernini added in 1673, and at the north end the Fountain of Neptune (Fontana del Nettuno) (1574) by Giacomo della Porta. Another the statue of Neptune, by Antonio Della Bitta was added in 1878. Surrounding it are several imposing buildings: the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, which had Francesco Borromini, Girolamo Rainaldi, and Carlo Rainaldi as the main architects, the Pamphili palace, also by Girolamo Rainaldi, the Church of Nostra Signora del Sacro Cuore, and Palazzo Braschi (Museo di Roma).