Piazza Navona, Rome

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We enjoyed spending an evening in Piazza Navona. This was such a fun experience for us and gave us a taste of the nightlife in Rome. The night we were there, a live concert was performing and people were dancing in the square. On the other side was multitudes of art vendors, some cheap, some not so cheap, but all fun to see and negotiate with. We ate a delicious outdoor cafe that allowed us to sit and take in the scenery of this square and all its ambiance. And in the midst of all this activity are breath-taking fountains by Bernini.

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For me, it's the most beautiful square in Rome! Unfortunately, when I went there in the summer, there were some works going on, so the Fontane dei Quattro Fiumi was covered :-(

I was quite surprised to discover that it used to be a stadium! Hence its peculiar shape.

There is always a lot of activity going on, with lots of tourists (as usual) and sellers, mostly of paintings. And the usual expensive restaurants to attract the tourists.

Once they fill up the Colosseum, they bus all the tourists to Piazza Navona. There are three cool fountains, 300 street vendors, a bunch of restaurants, 7,234 tourists, pidgeons a drunk photographer (Ok, so the drunk photographer was me), but the wine was so good.

I liked this square a lot since my first visit to Rome. It's full of little restaurants that surround it, street performers, and it's overlooked by very nice buildings. It has 3 great fountains within the square's limits and a big nice church (Sta. Maria in Agone) on one of its sides. There are also a few ice cream parlors and souvenir shops around and close to the piazza. Very nice place to stroll for a while, have an ice cream, have lunch/dinner, etc. (of course the restaurants here are very expensive, keep that in mind).

You can walk from there to the Pantheon, and from there to the Spanish Steps, Fontana di Trevi, etc..... there are signalings along the way (and in case of need, follow the crowd! You will eventually get to those places, they're not far).

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Bernini's finest works truly catch eyes. I spent one morning on Piazza Navona taking a lot of pictures of different fragments of the famous fauntains. There were not a lot of people, but italian kids who probably came here during their holiday vacation were pritty funny. Also the waiters in costumes looked interesting in front of 17th century buildings...
I've read many people enjoyed this place in evening and night... I still prefere morning when the light is soft and I can admire such a composite work of art.

This is a large public square and even at night it's still alive. It is a large cobblestone piazza with fountains and statues, and there are locals and tourists, lots of street vendors, buskers, etc. Most of the vendors are selling counterfeit handbags and crap, but the buskers are fun to watch.

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Piazza Navona is one of Rome's larger piazzas. Every builiding seems to house a restaurant or coffee bar. The piazza is a great place just to walk around and perhaps buy a painting from one of the many street artists. We found the restaurants a little too touristy and hence expensive.

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Piazza Navona is a city square in Rome, Italy. The piazza follows the plan of an ancient Roman circus, the 1st century Stadium of Domitian, where the Romans came to watch the agones ("games"): today's name stems from the corruption of the latter in in agone, then nagone and navona, which actually means "big ship" in Italian.

Defined as a square in the last years of 15th century, when the city market was transferred here from the Campidoglio, Piazza Navona is now the pride of Baroque Rome. It has sculptural and architectural creations: by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers, 1651) in the center; by Francesco Borromini and Girolamo Rainaldi, the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone; and by Pietro da Cortona, who painted the gallery in the Pamphilj palace.

The market was moved in 1869 to Campo de' Fiori, but the square has also a role in housing theatrical and costume shows, horse races, buffalo jousts. Since 1652, on every August Saturday and Sunday, the square was turned into a lake to celebrate the Pamphilj family. This feast was suppressed in 1866.

Piazza Navona contains two additional fountains sculpted by Giacomo della Porta — the Fontana di Nettuno (1574), located at the northern area of Piazza Navona, and the Fontana del Moro (1576), located at the southern end of the piazza.