Piazza Navona is located in the historic center of Rome, near the Pantheon. It is a great place to view some art and architecture, have a drink or a bite to eat, check out the shops, and generally people-watch.

The piazza follows the plan of an ancient Roman circus, essentially a race track. In this case, like the first-century Stadium of Domitian, where the Romans came to watch the agones ("games"). The name, Navona, stems from the corruption of the word agones into agone, then nagone and then, navona, which actually means "big ship" in Italian.

We went about noon hour, so stopped at a bar or enoteca with tables outside directly in front of Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi. The fountain, unfortunately, is undergoing restoration, so had scaffolding and boards all around it and you could only see parts and not the whole. It is intended to represent the four great rivers of the world.

Where we sat was an excellent spot to view the Borromini designed church, Sant'Agnese in Agone as well as the della Porta fountains, Fontana del Nettuno, and Fontana del Moro.

The little food spot is called Tucci where we had caprese salad and pasta. Food was not great but okay for a big tourist site area and the bottle of Chianti washed it all down nicely.

As we ate lunch, the piazza grew steadily busier and guys selling illegal knockoffs of sunglasses, purses, and watches started setting up their tables or blankets. People began hanging around near our table waiting for us to leave.

We finally left our table to wander around the piazza, look at the sculptures close up and window shop in the various shops.

It was a fun place to spend time and soak up some atmosphere.

However, to address the sculpture and architecture, the Fountain of the Four Rivers by Bernini is truly magnificent. It is easy to see how Bernini managed to get back in favour with Pope Innocent X. On the northern side of the fountain are the figures of the Nile, with its head covered, and the Plate, with the bald head and looking primitive. On the southern side is the noble and classical-looking Danube with the horse and the Ganges on the opposite side from the church and a lion bending down to drink from the water. The creature taking the overflow from the fountain is a sea-creature, and not a dolphin as everyone suspects - Bernini did actually know what a dolphin looked like! Be careful while you wonder at the masterpiece, though, as you may find yourself the victim of a pickpocket.

The main fountain is La Fontana dei Quatri Fiumi (1651) or Fountains of the Four Rivers -- and what are those? They are the Danube, the Nile, the Ganges and the Rio della Plata (in that order). Now, the face of the allegoric figure of the Nile is veiled and it’s been subject to different interpretations. One of them is that, at the time, no one knew where the source of the Nile was. The other has to do Bernini’s career. Borromini, who designed the Church of Sant'Agnese was his rival and the Nile and Rio della Plata figures were designed to shield their eyes from the church, as a sign of disdain. If you look at the statue of Sant'Agnese on top of church, you'll see her gaze goes way over the piazza, another sign of disdain. Though, this first part of the story doesn't seem likely because the fountain was finished before the construction of Sant'Agnese began. .... I don't know.

You will find a lot of street vendors will sell their fares (fake soccer jersey, fake bags). If you really, really have to have one, don’t forget to barter or you’ll be ripped off.