Piazza del Popolo

Piazza del Popolo has long been Rome’s northern threshold, where the Via Flaminia reached the city and processions announced arrival. At its center stands the Flaminio Obelisk, carved in Egypt in the 13th c. BC, brought to Rome by Augustus and raised here in 1589 under Sixtus V, turning an imperial trophy into a Christian signpost. The paired churches of Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto (1675–81) and Giuseppe Valadier’s redesign (1811–20) shaped the square into a measured civic stage, framing the start of Via del Corso and a public image of Rome.