ABSTRACT
Located in central Rome just west of the Pantheon and north of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, Piazza Navona is unique among Italian piazzas. Unlike more centralized spaces that evolved from gaps in the city fabric like the Campo dei Fiori or more deliberately and idealized Renaissance and Baroque spaces such as Piazza San Pietro, Navona is the remnant of a first century Roman circus just as Lucca’s Piazza dell’ Anfiteatro owes its shape to a Roman amphitheater. In Navona, the circus’ long, slender form, even with the apsoidal end (and perhaps owing to its origins as a stadium) remains conducive to promenade.
