Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II (Rome) also called Magic Gate or "Porta Magica"), the entrance to Villa Palombara, former residence of the alchemist Marquis Palombara. In Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette), it was in Piazza Vittorio that the protagonist Antonio Ricci and his young son Bruno seek desperately to recover his stolen bicycle, but realise the futility of their task as the vast square is filled with countless bicycles and bicycle parts that resemble his own. List of city squares by size Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II (Rome) Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, also known as Piazza Vittorio, is a piazza in Rome, in the
Sant'Agnese in Agone set one urban block away from the piazza, to the Piazza Navona, a large urban space that Innocent was transforming into a showcase associated with his family. It had been the intention to build the new church over the old church which would become the crypt; this meant the new church was to be raised well above piazza level, but this idea was abandoned once construction started. The original drawings are lost but it is thought that the Piazza Navona facade design included a narthex between two towers and broad stairs descending to the piazza. Harsh criticism was made of