La Piazza Navona

The Piazza Navona is a fantastic sight to see in Rome. It is shaped like an oval, as it was once a stadium, and is currently home to three fountains, the fountain of Neptune, the Fontana Del Moro, and the Fountain of the Four Rivers and many local restaurants, bars and souvenir shops. The construction of the piazza was commissioned to celebrate the Pamphili Family, the same family that funded the Pamphili Gardens, and was in a way in competition with surrounding piazzas that were commemorating different families and people.. The architects, Bernini and Borromini (& Rainaldi whom Borromini took over the project for) designed the Fountain of the Four Rivers and the Church of Sant'Angese in Agone respectively, with the fountains having been constructed first. The Piazza Navona is decorated in the Baroque style and is also home to theVia dell'Anima where Giorgio Vigololstory takes place. In this story a woman named Costanza is thought to have hand the most beautiful hands, and is even asked to have her hands molded by a local molder who admired her hand for its beauty. After she agrees to have her hands molded she starts to regret her decision to allow her hands to be molded and worshiped for their beauty. In a moment of panic she takes a needle that she was using to sow with and pierces her hand. The wound later on becomes infected and as a result she loses her hand to the infection. The author describes seeing her ghostly hands in the windows of the building at night when the moon is full.  An interesting fact/myth about the piazza is whether or not the sculpture figure of the River Rio Della Plato is blocking his view of the Sant'Angese church that Borromini finished constructing because the figure considers the building to be hideous. The rumor was derived from the idea that Bernini and Borromini were artistic enemies, and that this was Berninis way of showing his discontent to Borromini. As it turns out however, the fountain was fully constructed before the church was finished and so the rumors ended up being false.