At Piazza Navona

Oak + Fort top (c/o) (similar)
Zara trousers (similar)
By Mumico espadrilles
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Celine sunglasses
Linjer rings (c/o) (similar)
Mejuri earrings (similar)
Location: Piazza Navona – Rome, Italy

When I was younger, I travelled a lot more spontaneously. Which is to say I made far fewer, if any, plans. I still usually managed to see all of the major sites in a given city. Usually. It didn’t bother me if I missed things, in the moment. I was content to wander aimlessly between major sites and arrive for my visits at any time of day, regardless of crowds or queues. It was relaxed, but not always very effective. And the result, too often, was that I realized, upon arriving home, that I’d missed one critical attraction in a city that I truly regretted not seeing. On my first trip to Rome, that was Piazza Navona.

When I looked back at old photos before we left for Rome this year, I discovered that I was actually at Piazza Navona on my first trip to Rome. But my visit was brief, and likely so rushed, that I didn’t even realise the significance of where I stood snapping photos. On my second trip, we made a point of getting there. By the time we went home, we’d spent many a happy afternoon at Piazza Navona, eating gelato in the August heat. (That heat was the price we paid for being able to enjoy the piazza at mid-day without fighting huge crowds to do it. To me, it was worth it.)

On both of those trips, I stayed in the Esquilino neighbourhood. That makes missing Piazza Navona a bit more comprehensible. It’s a long walk down from near Termini Station into the northern part of the old town. This time, we stayed in Prati, which put us closer to Piazza Navona than almost any other major site. When we crossed a bridge, any bridge, we almost couldn’t miss passing through it on route to wherever we were going. From mid-afternoon onward, we would actively avoid it, to avoid the need to bob and weave through crowds of tourists following flag-waving guides from one destination to the next (and seeing little, beyond the flag they’re required to follow, in any of them.)

“Rome is a place almost worn out by being looked at, a city collapsing under the weight of reference.”
– Graham Joyce

But a morning at Piazza Navona is a different experience entirely. On our second day in Rome, we made a special early  trip to see the piazza in the dawn light, before cafes opened and other travellers descended. The cobbled square was nearly deserted. At the restaurants around it, lone staff members were just beginning to set-up chairs and tables, most of which remained stacked and tucked away. A few other photographers joined us, which isn’t unusual. If writers are observers of life, then photographers are often avoiders. I won’t pretend I don’t understand why. Life can spoil a good photo, unless you capture it in exactly the right moment. Mostly, the piazza was ours and ours alone.

The fountains and statues at Piazza Navona, in particular the obelisk, dwarf visitors at the best of times. But it’s hard to take in their sheer size and scale while strangers jostle you from all sides. Standing alone in front of the Fountain of Four Rivers, a Bernini masterwork, I really saw it for the first time. The details, the way Bernini made stone move like water defies conventional description. You need to see it to understand it. But if you visit the piazza too late in the day, you really won’t get that chance. It’s true, you’ll glimpse it. You will be there, in the presence of its greatness. It won’t be the same as standing alone in front of it, looking at it from every angle, for as long as you like, with no one to interrupt. That is a rare luxury.

I know that nothing I say will be enough to convince most (normal, sane) people to start waking up at 6 am on holidays. But to me, there’s nothing better. I will sacrifice a bit of sleep for a morning like this one every single time. And I’ve never once regretted it.

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