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.
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| 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.
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| Fountain of 4 Rivers |
THE FOUNTAIN OF FOUR RIVERS-
Fontana 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.
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| 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.
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| Another Fountain in Navona Square |
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| Tom and our tour guide Rosanna at the Fountain of 4 Rivers |
NEXT: THE PANTHEON: Temple to the Gods
