DK Travel : Rome : Around Piazza Navona

This is Baroque Rome in all its theatrical glory, a collection of curvaceous architecture and elaborate fountains by the era’s two greatest architects, Bernini and Borromini, and churches filled with paintings by the likes of Caravaggio and Rubens. The street plan was largely overhauled by 16th- to 18th-century popes attempting to improve the traffic flow from St Peter’s – in fact, a 19th-century plan to turn Piazza Navona into a boulevard from Prati across Ponte Umberto I was only killed when wiser heads widened Corso del Rinascimento instead. However, ancient Rome does peek through in the shape of Piazza Navona and the curve of Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne. This is also a neighbourhood of craftsmen, shopkeepers and antiques restorers and dealers who line Via dei Coronari (see Antiques Shops). More recently the narrow alleys around Via della Pace have become a centre of Roman nightlife, with tiny pubs, trendy cafés and nightspots where the clientele spills out into the streets in summer (see Chic Cafés and Bars).

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Santa Maria della Pace

Baccio Pontelli rebuilt this church for Pope Sixtus IV in 1480–84, but the lovely and surprising façade (1656–7), its curved portico squeezed into a tiny piazza, is a Baroque masterpiece by Pietro da Cortona. Raphael’s first chapel on the right is frescoed with Sibyls (1514) influenced by the then recently unveiled Sistine ceiling (see Sistine Chapel Works). Peruzzi decorated the chapel across the aisle and Bramante’s first job in Rome was designing a cloister based on ancient examples. It now hosts frequent concerts.
Santa Maria dell’Anima

Highlights in this gilded church are a Giulio Romano altarpiece and Peruzzi’s Hadrian VI tomb (1523).
Sant’Agnese in Agone

Built in honour of a 13-year-old girl who was stripped in a brothel but whose hair miraculously grew to cover her nakedness. Borromini’s façade is a wonderful play of concave and convex shapes.
Sant’Agostino

Raphael frescoed the prophet Isaiah (1512) on the third pillar on the right, and Jacopo Sansovino provided the pregnant and venerated Madonna del Parto ; but Sant’Agostino’s pride and joy is Caravaggio’s Madonna del Loreto (1603–1606). The master’s strict realism balked at the tradition of depicting Mary riding atop her miraculous flying house (which landed in Loreto). The house is merely suggested by a travertine doorway and flaking stucco wall where Mary, supporting her overly large Christ child, is venerated by a pair of scandalously scruffy pilgrims.
Sant’Antonio dei Portoghesi

A Baroque gem of a church. Out front is the Torre della Scimmia, a rare remnant of medieval Rome.
Sant’Ivo

Giacomo della Porta’s Renaissance façade for the 1303 Palazzo della Sapienza, the original seat of Rome’s university, hides the city’s most gorgeous courtyard. The double arcade is closed at the far end by Sant’ Ivo’s highly original façade, an intricate Borromini interplay of concave and convex curves. The crowning glory is the upward spiralling ellipse of the dome. The interior is disappointing, despite its Pietro da Cortona altarpiece. When the courtyard is closed, you can see the dome from Piazza Sant’ Eustachio.
Terra di Siena

One of the best Tuscan restaurants in Rome. The family imports ingredients and classic seasonal recipes from the farmers around their hometown near Siena.
Tre Archi

A local trattoria with two small rooms and a famed Roman set menu.
Tre Scalini

This historic café, right on Piazza Navona, is renowned for its delectable chocolate homemade tartufo ice cream ball.
Via dei Coronari

Lined with antiques shops, this street is at its torch-flickering best during the May and October antiques fairs.

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Restaurant price categories

For a three-course meal for one with half a bottle of wine (or equivalent meal), taxes and extra charges.
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