Rome - December 27, 2011 - Piazza Navona

Sant'Agnese in Agone

Alex by small fountain

Walking back towards the hotel from the Vatican City we ended up at the Piazza Navona. Lucky for us there was a Christmas Market in full swing. The sweet scent of deep fried dough, sugar and cinnamon wafted through the cool evening air. Puppet shows and street performers where out in force and the police not far behind.

YAY Another obelisk! This one sits atop the fluid almost violent fountain of the four rivers by, who who? Bernini of course. The obelisk called Domitian’s obelisk was moved here to top the fountain in the 17th century. It was originally either in or outside the basilica of Maxentius, Sad thing is I don’t know if this is a real one or a fake one (meaning a real Egyptian obelisk or a Roman copy).

Sant'Agnese in Agone and Obelisk

The piazza itself is quite marvelous, being in the shape of the circus of Domitian which stood on this spot back in the day. Obviously not as big as the circs maximus. There is a delightful church , the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, set back on one of the long sides of the piazza. The concave facade and fluid baroque architecture is quite something.

There are two smaller fountains on the north and south side of the big fountain. One was built in the 1500’s with more stupid tritons on the bottom, it was then capped off by another statue by Bernini in the 1650’s. The other fountain had a statue added to it in the 19th century to make the whole piazza a little more balanced. Very Feng Shui.

Piazza Navona, Sant'Agnese in Agone and Christmas Market

Rome - December 27, 2011 - Tiber Embankment

Palazzo di Giustizia, edible architecture?

Just west of La Maddalena the Corso Rinascimento rears it's ugly head, though dashing across the street I was pleasantly surprised to see that part of the old stadium of Domitian (now the Piazza Navona) was still visible.

Here it was just a quick walk north a slight left (west) and boom goes the dynamite...or rather at the end of the street I saw a hideous white building of the confectionery school of architecture and knew just where we were. 

Within a few moments we were right across the river from the Palazzo di Giustizia. Which really looks like someone has left a wedding cake out in the rain. Impressive? Yes. Enormous? Yes. Tasteful? Well maybe...maybe not. Grandiose certainly. After I had time to appreciate it I used the word "delectable" which I think covers it nicely.

Ponte Umberto I

Creepy embankment

Instead of crossing here over the ponte Umberto I we went down the steps to the cobbled embankment just above the surface of the river. Personally I was not enthralled by the idea of wandering about under the Roman equivalent of a freeway pass, but besides a few empty bottles and used prophylactics it seemed relatively harmless. 

In fact down here not a single person tried to sell us a wooden train, cheap plastic camera tripod, or pope soap on a rope.

The views of both the former tomb of Hadrian (now the Castel Sant' Angelo), Ponte Sant' Angelo and the Dome of St. Peter's were uninterrupted and ours for the taking!

Postcard perfect picture from embankment