Beneath Piazza Navona lie the remains of the 1st-century-AD Stadio di Domiziano, over which the square was laid out in the 15th century. This 30,000-seat arena, the first masonry stadium ever built in Rome, was used to stage athletic meets – hence the name Navona, a corruption of the Greek word agon, meaning public games.
Stadio di Domiziano
Centro Storico
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
1.02 MILES
Founded by Pope Julius II in the early 16th century and enlarged by successive pontiffs, the Vatican Museums boast one of the world's greatest art…
0.95 MILES
In the city of outstanding churches, none can hold a candle to St Peter's, Italy’s largest, richest and most spectacular basilica. Built atop a 4th…
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1.23 MILES
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0.72 MILES
Dating from 1471, the Capitoline Museums are the world's oldest public museums, with a fine collection of classical sculpture.
0.25 MILES
With its revolutionary design, this awe-inspiring temple has served as an architectural blueprint for millennia.
0.11 MILES
With its showy fountains, baroque palazzi and colorful cast of street artists, hawkers and tourists, Piazza Navona is central Rome’s elegant showcase…
Nearby Centro Storico attractions
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The northernmost of the three fountains on Piazza Navona, this 19th-century creation depicts Neptune fighting with a sea monster, surrounded by sea nymphs.
2. Museo Nazionale Romano: Palazzo Altemps
0.06 MILES
Just north of Piazza Navona, Palazzo Altemps is a beautiful late-15th-century palazzo housing the best of the Museo Nazionale Romano’s formidable…
3. Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pace & Chiostro del Bramante
0.06 MILES
Tucked away in the back streets behind Piazza Navona, this small baroque church boasts a columned semicircular facade by Pietro da Cortona and a…
0.09 MILES
Piazza Navona's flamboyant centrepiece, Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi is an ornate, showy work. Completed in 1651, it features a…
0.09 MILES
The plain white facade of this early Renaissance church, built in the 15th century and renovated in the late 1700s, gives no indication of the impressive…
6. Chiesa di Sant'Agnese in Agone
0.1 MILES
With its theatrical facade and rich, domed interior, the Chiesa di Sant’Agnese in Agone is typical of Francesco Borromini’s baroque style. The church,…
0.11 MILES
With its showy fountains, baroque palazzi and colorful cast of street artists, hawkers and tourists, Piazza Navona is central Rome’s elegant showcase…
0.11 MILES
Seat of the Italian Senate since 1871, the regal Palazzo Madama was originally the 16th-century residence of Giovanni de’ Medici, the future Pope Leo X…