Piazza della Rotonda, Rome

Piazza della Rotonda opens before the Pantheon, which occupies the square’s southern edge. Its name comes from Santa Maria Rotonda, the familiar church name once used for the Pantheon. The paving followed a decisive clearance: Pope Eugenius the Fourth ordered the clutter of stalls and lean-tos stripped away, then the square was paved.

At its heart, the Fontana del Pantheon was completed in fifteen seventy-five, designed by Giacomo della Porta and executed by Leonardo Sormani. Above the basin rises an Egyptian obelisk installed in seventeen eleven. It began as Ramses the Second’s monument at Heliopolis, later reached Rome, and served in the sanctuary of Isis. For a long stretch, this square also hosted fish and vegetable trading, until eighteen forty-seven.