Piazza Navona, Rome


	Piazza Navona The oblong shape and monumental size of the Piazza Navona date from Domitian's reign in the 1st century AD, when this plaza was a sports stadium. Through the Middle Ages it continued to be used for sporting events, jousting, and the like. Even in the last century, it was annually flooded in August for the cavorting of the Romans who drove carriages instead of chariots around it. Its present glorious appearance, however, dates from the 17th century when Pope Innocent X decided to spruce up his family's neighborhood. At the center of the piazza is one of Rome's most fantastical fountains. Given the simple task of raising an obelisk above a fountain, Bernini instead created a dynamic sculpture of rushing water and marble known as the Fountain of the Four Rivers. He transformed stone into a "natural" grotto where a lion roams and a palm tree grows as part of the four corners of the earth, represented by the encircling river gods. Address: Piazza Navona Rome Italy