Continuing on the theme of profiling public spaces I’ve been to, we’re in Rome this week. The Piazza Navona was one of my favorite public spaces in Italy (and it’s right next to my favorite building, the Pantheon).

The piazza started its life as the Stadium of Diocletian, a smaller version of the Circus Maximus and home to bloody Roman games. After the empire fell, the stadium fell into general disuse (and was even picked over for building materials as late as the Renaissance). Finally, in the Baroque period it was transformed into the space it is today, with the fountains and church of Sant’Agnese.

The piazza feels more like an outdoor room than a street or square; its unique shape and nearly uninterrupted 360 degree façade create the feeling of enclosure. Despite the fact that it’s connected to many streets, I never really used it as a street on my way to somewhere else. The roads alongside the piazza seem to take most of the through traffic, leaving the piazza for those who want to simply enjoy it (like throngs of tourists).

Photo by: pynomoscato.