Monday, December 28, 2015

Rome, Day 4: Piazza Navona

From Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, you can follow the street signs pointing you to Piazza Navona. During the daytime, the signs are very helpful. At night, the streets of Rome are quite dark and the signs are less visible.

The piazza was extremely crowded during the day.

The above is the Rio de la Plata. He looks frightened.

There are three Baroque fountains in Piazza Navona. The middle one is Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or Fountain of the Four Rivers. The Egyptian obelisk is surmounted in the center.

The fountain at the southern end is Fontana del Moro (Moor Fountain) with a basin and four Tritons by Giacomo della Porta. Bernini later added a statue of a Moor wrestling with a dolphin. 

At the northern end is Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune) also sculpted by Giacomo della Porta. The statue of Neptune fighting with an octopus by Antonio Della Bitta was added in later to create a balance with Fontana del Moro.

The church of Sant'Agnese in Agone stands next to Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi. The church was credited to Bernini's rivalry, Francesco Borromini. Rumor says Bernini mocked Borromini by making the statue (the Rio de la Plata, one of the two facing Borromini's church) look horrified by Borromini's building. I don't know if it's true, but that is one hilarious gossip.

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