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 plan but made adjustments; on the interior for instance, he positioned columns towards the edges of the dome piers which had the effect of creating a broad base to the dome pendentives instead of the pointed base which was the usual Roman solution. His drawings show that on the façade to Piazza Navona, he designed curved steps descending to the piazza, the convex curvature of which play against the concave curvature of the façade to form an oval landing in front of the main entrance. His façade was to have eight columns and a broken pediment over the entrance. He