When in Rome...#3

Our next tour took us to all the best piazzas, fountains and must see stuff in the city.  Ok, honestly I couldn't remember the name of most of these fountains/statues/etc that I took pictures of.  I was truly enjoying the walk and taking in the scenery...I guess I should have paid more attention to all the history I was supposed to be learning. Luckily with a little internet searching I was able to figure it out!

The first two fountains are both located in Piazza Navona if you want to go check them out sometime : ) Below is the Fontana del Moro, designed by Giacomo della Porto and built in 1575. The fountain has statues of four Tritons and the basin is made of special antique rose marble.  The sounds of running water in the square was wonderful.  There were people wandering around, having lunch and just enjoying the amazing architecture.

The second fountain in Piazza Navona was the Fontana Dei Quattro Fiumi, Four Rivers Fountain.   This was one of my favorites on the tour because it told a story.  The four men that make up the corners of the fountain represent four rivers - the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile, and the Rio de la Plata.  It was created by Bernini in the early 1650s and was so expensive that the bread tax in Rome was raised in order to cover its high cost.

Next stop the Pantheon!  This place was AMAZING!! It was built in 126 A.D. as a Roman temple to the gods.  Each column was built out of a solid piece of marble in Egypt....that's right, each column was one piece and had to be shipped over from Egypt.  They were floated down the Nile River to the Mediterranean Sea then up the Tiber River into Rome.  Talk about some hard labor! 

 After 2000 years, the roof of the Pantheon still holds the record today for the largest un-reinforced concrete dome in the world!  It was poured in place and has nothing holding it up (hence the un-reinforced thing).  It does have a hole (oculus) at the top so when it rains in Rome it rains in the Pantheon.  No worries though, there are drains in the floor to keep the water in check.

The door

The oculus

For some reason this next statue reminded me of Lola : ) Probably the short, fat, elephant that could have been a bulldog from the back.  It was designed by Bernini and is called Miverva's Pulcino.   On top is an Egyptian obelisk.  

Below is the inside of the Church of Sant Ignazio.  The ceiling was flat and it had no dome but it was painted by Andrea Pozzo in a way to give the illusion of a curved ceiling and central dome.  Honestly, the paintings here were more beautiful than the Sistine Chapel which we would see the next day!

 If you ever need some pope/priest gear while in Rome I know where you can go!  So funny that you could just walk in off the street and check that stuff out.

Last, but certainly not least, we went to the Trevi Fountain.  I had wanted to see this fountain since I watched Gidget Goes to Rome as a kid!  Legend says, if you throw a coin over your left shoulder into to fountain you will return to Rome.  So of course we had to give it a try!

At this point it was dinner time and we were exhausted.  The got some supper and rested up for our tour of the Vatican the next day.