Palazzo Pamphilj in Piazza Navona

The Piazza Navona is one of the most celebrated urban spaces in Rome and perhaps Europe. Despite its lasting fame, neither the uninitiated nor the specialist has fully been privy to the history of its remarkable transformation from a medieval field to a magnificent Baroque piazza. The ambitions of a single family, The Pamphilj, engendered this remarkable change. Pope Innocent X (1644-55) sought to proclaim his family's identity through a building program, including the monumental palace, church of S. Agnese in Agone, Collegio Innocenziano, and Gianlorenzo Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers and Fountain of the Moor. The Pamphilj endowed the entire urban space with its indelible presence.