Saturday, November 26, 2016

Italy Blog #62: Rome: Navona Square's Secret and 4 Rivers Fountain

Welcome back to the Italy blog. We're picking up in Rome and will uncover the secret below Navona Square in the vicinity of the Vatican (we blogged about it last week) and show you the Fountain of 4 Rivers.

Navona Square
HISTORY OF NAVONA SQUARE - It was created in 1 A.D. Yes, the year ONE. It was shaped like a horse track. There was actually a stadium known as "Agonale" underneath the current square. The surface of the stadium is about 33 feet (10 meters) below the surface. Buildings surround the square where the stadium seats would have been.
Fountain of 4 Rivers




THE FOUNTAIN OF FOUR RIVERSFontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) is a fountain in the Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. It was designed in 1651 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for Pope Innocent X whose family palace, the Palazzo Pamphili, faced onto the piazza as did the church of Sant'Agnese in Agoner.


Close up of Fountain of 4 Rivers
The fountain has male River Gods that represent four major rivers: Africa (the Nile); Asia (the Ganges); Europe (the Danube) and South America (the Amazon).   Above the four river gods stands an ancient Egyptian obelisk surmounted with the Pamphili family emblem of a dove with an olive twig.

Another Fountain in Navona Square
Tom and our tour guide Rosanna at the Fountain of 4 Rivers
NEXT: THE PANTHEON: Temple to the Gods

Who I am

I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob

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