Piazza Colonna Piazza Colonna Piazza Colonna is a piazza at the center of the Rione of Colonna in the historic heart of Rome, Italy. It is named for the marble Column of Marcus Aurelius, which has stood there since AD 193. The bronze statue of Saint Paul that crowns the column was placed in 1589, by order of Pope Sixtus V. The Roman Via Lata (now the Via del Corso) runs through the piazza's eastern end, from south to north. The piazza is rectangular. Its north side is taken up by Palazzo Chigi, formerly the Austria-Hungary's embassy, but is now a seat
Sant'Agnese in Agone of this church is unrelated to the ‘agony’ of the martyr: "in agone" was the ancient name of Piazza Navona ("piazza in agone"), and meant instead, from the Greek, ‘in the site of the competitions’, because Piazza Navona was built on the form of an ancient Roman stadium on the Greek model, with one flat end, and was used for footraces. From ‘in agone’, the popular use and pronunciation changed the name into ‘Navona’, but other roads in the area kept the original name. Bernini's "Fountain of the Four Rivers" is situated in front of the church. It is often