Why is Piazza Navona famous?
In Ancient Rome, the site was a stadium built during Emperor Domitian’s rule. Nowadays, Piazza Navona is best known as a location for Baroque architecture, like Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers).
What was the Piazza Navona in ancient Rome?
Piazza Navona (pronounced [ˈpjattsa naˈvoːna]) is a public open space in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in the 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium.
Where is the famous fountain in Rome?
The Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain (Italian: Fontana di Trevi) is a fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, Italy, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini and several others.
What is the main square in Rome?
Many know Piazza di Spagna as the most elegant square in Rome, surrounded by one of the city’s main shopping districts. The square’s most iconic features, the Spanish Steps, is an essential site for many to visit on their trip to Rome.
Is Piazza Navona a good place to stay?
Piazza Navona is one of the most beautiful and important squares in Rome and a wonderful place to stay during your trip to the Eternal City. This is also an area full of restaurants and cafes and the area where it is easiest to experience Rome’s famous and scenic cobbled streets.
How did Piazza Navona get its name?
The name of the piazza is derived precisely from the Greek term “Agone”–contest–which in the Middle Ages became “in Agone” and finally “Navona”. As in almost all the places destined for fun and games in ancient Rome, the stadium was surrounded by taverns and lupanari (ancient houses of ill repute).
What is the Piazza Navona used for?
Used for athletic contests and for gladiator shows following fire damage to the Colosseum, this is Rome’s only example of a masonry stadium, dating back to the first century AD. Piazza Navona stands above the original stadium structure – and you can peer down to get a glimpse of the ruins at the end of the square.
What was the Piazza Navona used for when it was first built?
History of Piazza Navona In 86 CE, emperor Domitian commissioned this square with its unique, elongated shape. This shape is the result of its original function as the stadium for athletics competitions (Circus Agonalis) with stands for 20,000 spectators.
What is the biggest piazza in Rome?
One of the largest squares in Rome, the circular Piazza del Popolo is almost perfectly symmetrical, from the twin churches on the southern edge to the fountains on either side, while the centre of the square is dominated by the imposing imposing Egyptian obelisk.
What did the Romans call a marketplace or public square?
forum, in Roman cities in antiquity, multipurpose, centrally located open area that was surrounded by public buildings and colonnades and that served as a public gathering place. It was an orderly spatial adaptation of the Greek agora, or marketplace, and acropolis.