Piazza del Popolo

Piazza del Popolo opens as a broad oval square in Rome, shaped by curved sides, fountains and an Egyptian obelisk. Its northern entrance, Porta del Popolo, once welcomed travellers arriving through the Aurelian Walls. Today, the open space connects monumental architecture with views towards the Pincio terrace. Two near-twin churches, Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto, face each other across the far end.

The Flaminian Obelisk once stood beside the temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, before Augustus brought it to Rome. Pope Sixtus V moved it here in 1589, making an ancient Egyptian monument the square’s visual centre. Santa Maria del Popolo holds Caravaggio’s Conversion of Saint Paul and Crucifixion of Saint Peter in the Cerasi Chapel. Its Chigi Chapel follows a design by Raphael and includes later work by Bernini.

Giuseppe Valadier’s fountain of the Lions surrounds the obelisk with circular basins and white marble lions. Neptune, Tritons and dolphins appear in one fountain, while the goddess Roma stands with the Tiber, the Aniene and Rome’s nursing wolf. From the Pincio, the gate, churches, fountains and obelisk align in one view. Look down again: a monument created in the thirteenth century before Christ still orders the square.