Piazza Navona, Rome

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Piazza Navona is the greatest square of Rome. Great, in the sense of being wonderful and lively, beautiful, large. Night and day it's a busy place. This piazza is like the living room of Rome, a place for locals and visitors alike. It's considered one of the most beautiful and lively outdoor spaces in the world.
Originally built as a racetrack by the ancient Roman Emperor Domitian, it still retains the original oval shape that gives it a unique appearance, lined with restaurants and palaces. The piazza is enclosed by faded pastel facades all around that produce a rich feeling of antiquity. It's a place to have some fun, with something for everybody.
One of the most beautiful focal points of the Piazza Navona is the fountain of the Four Rivers, right in the center. It was designed by Bernini that greatest of all baroque artists in Rome. There are four principal statues that represent the four major rivers of the great continents known at that time. You want to walk all the way around this wonderful sculptural complex and see it from all angles, and especially from the corner where you get the church in the backdrop.
We'll take a close look at these fountains to appreciate their beauty and discuss some of the history of the piazza coming up in just a few minutes. But first, let's take a stroll around the piazza and absorb this magical atmosphere. There are some convenient benches all around the fountain where you can sit down or lie down and relax.
The piazza is lined with many attractive looking restaurants, most of them with lovely outdoor terraces that look very appealing. It looks like a nice place to sit down and have a meal. But you'll find much better restaurants within a few blocks of the piazza with more reasonable prices. However, if you'd like to sit at one of these terrace cafes and have a drink, and enjoy some people watching, that's perfectly fine.
You'll notice that lots of artists have set up their easels here, turning the piazza into an outdoor art gallery. They could do a quick sketch of you, or you could buy an original watercolor with some really beautiful choices here of the various scenes of Rome.
Just be sure it's an actual painting and not some cheap print going for a high price. Most of these artists are honest and very talented, part of that artistic heritage of the city. Maybe you'd like a caricature of yourself. Make yourself look kind of goofy. It can be done in a pastel or in a charcoal black and white.
You can talk with the artist and negotiate the price and discuss the style or perhaps just a straightforward portrait to make yourself look better than a photograph. And there are many other kinds of arts that you can purchase here. There's watercolors and oil paintings, and the wonderful thing is these are original works of art, and you're buying it directly from the artist.
One of the big attractions is that central Fountain Of The Four Rivers, designed by Bernini in 1651.
The Fountain has four giant heroic statues that represent the four major rivers of the four continents over which the Pope had some authority. In total, they symbolize the power the church had on the four most important areas of the world at that time. You've got the Nile representing Africa, the Danube representing Europe, Asia, represented by the Ganges and the Americas, represented by Rio de la Plata of Argentina.
The obelisk is a monolithic piece of Aswan granite brought from Egypt.
The obelisk seems to float in the sky, magically suspended above an empty space. Beneath it, you are left to wonder how can this obelisk possibly be supported over thin air, which adds a magical and dramatic effect to astonish the viewer.

This fountain is a theater in the round, a spectacle of action that invites you to walk all the way around it, observing the different angles, the different characters, the spectacle, water flows and splashes from a jagged and pierced mountainous disorder of travertine marble, cooling the air and making a delightful sound.
Piazza Navona has two other fountains sometimes overlooked because of the magnificence of the four rivers. At the southern end is Fontana del Moro, with a basin and Triton, sculpted by Giacomo della Porta in 1575 and one century later, Bernini added, a statue of a Moor, wrestling with a dolphin.
At the northern end is the fountain of Neptune, also created by Giacomo della Porta in 1574.
The theatrical setting of the fountain of the Four Rivers is greatly enhanced by the backdrop of the Church of Sant Agnese, with an elaborate convex facade and beautiful dome flanked by twin bell towers, a spectacular baroque architectural landmark.
Piazza Navona is centrally located in Rome, easy to reach on foot within ten or 15 minutes from most of the major attractions and the sights further away, like the Colosseum and the Vatican, are within two kilometers.
The piazza is right in the center of Rome.

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