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Piazza Navona in Rome Italy

For centuries this atmospheric pedestrian square has been one of the main hubs of Roman social life. It occupies the site of an ancient sports stadium, the Circus of Domitian of AD 86, hence its unusually long, this shape Hidden beneath the foundations of the surrounding buildings is the arena's original seating for 30,000 spectators and most streets leading into the piazza were once entrances into the stadium.

Via Agonale recall the athletes who entered here for the races. The stadium was known as the Circus Agonalis, (arena for athletes), corrupted to n'Agone and eventually Navona.

During the middle ages the 'arena for athletes' was occupied by vineyards, but with Rome's rebirth in the 15th century it became an important marketplace, and continued thus for any centuries. Piazza Navona has provided the backdrop for countless processions, jousting competitions and other sporting spectacles including mock naval battles or naumachiae. The surface of the piazza was concave, and could be flooded by blocking the fountains' drains. As recently as the last century, it was annually flooded in the coldest winters for skating and at weekends during stifling heat of summer, so cardinals and princes could cool off as their gilded carriages were driven around the water-filled piazza.

It was in the 17th century that Piazza Navona was transformed into the glorious Baroque square we see today, when Pamphili Pope Innocent X decided to embellish it in honour of his family. He commissioned the monumental Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in the centre and ordered the restoration of the two 16th-century fountains - Fontana del Moro to the south, portraying a Moor hunting a dolphin by Bernini (the original sculptures are in the Villa Borghese Gardens, and Fontana del Nettuno to the north, showing Neptune struggling with a sea monster. Finally, he built his dream house - the Palazzo Pamphili - in the southwest corner of the square. Its gallery was decorated in 1650by Pietro da Cortona with a vast fresco of the Aeneid, which runs the entire length of the building, today home to the Brazilian embassy.

Today, life in the piazza revolves around its many pricey open-air cafes. The amazing collection of buildings coloured in every shade of ochre provides the perfect backdrop for people-watching from early morning through to the small hours - businessmen on mobile hones, tourists marveling at the sights, locals chatting on marble benches, grandmothers strolling with grandchildren, nuns, artists, artisans, buskers, caricaturists, fortune-tellers, and couples entwined in passionate embrace. The piazza has always been a circus!

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