Roman Fountains

Since we are fortunate enough to be here as the renovated Trevi Fountain is recommissioned we felt that we wanted to see it with all it's new 500 LED lights in their full glory. So we plotted our day to arrive there in the early evening.

We set off early in the afternoon making our way to the bottom of the hill close to St Peter's and had lunch at our favourite restaurant.

Later we caught a taxi to the Piazza Navone which was built in the 1st century AD on the site of the Stadium of Domitian. The ancient Romans went there to watch games, hence it was known as "Circus Agonalis" ("competition arena"). Over time the name eventually changed to navona.

The Piazza became a public space in the last years of 15th century, when the city market was transferred there and features important sculptural and architectural creations.

The famous Fountain of the Four Rivers (1651), topped by the Obelisk of Domitian, brought in pieces from the Circus of Maxentius and the 17th-century Church of Sant' Agnese in Agone.

The church faces onto the Piazza where the early Christian Saint Agnes was martyred in the ancient Stadium.

The Piazza has two other fountains, the Fontana del Moro with a basin and four Tritons (1575) and the Fountain of Nepture (1574).

During its history, the piazza has hosted theatrical events and other activities. In 1869 the market was moved to the nearby Campo de' Fiori. A Christmas market is held in the piazza.

Next stop on our itinerary for this afternoon was The Pantheon. The Pantheon is on the site of an earlier building commissioned by Marcus Agrippa and was completed by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated about 126AD.

Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres.

It is one of the best-preserved of all ancient Roman buildings in largely because it has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century the Pantheon has been used as a church dedicated to "St Mary and the Martyrs".

Eventually we arrived at the fabulous Trevi Fountain. Crowds of people there admiring the beautifully restored Roman landmark.

We stood side by side and tossed our three coins each over our left shoulders into the Fountain and then I tossed in three more coins just for good measure and so that Johnny could capture the moment.

We were quite impressed with the number of coins already lying in the bottom of the fountain after just a couple of days.