Sant'Agnese Church in Piazza Navona

One of the most famous sites located at Piazza Navona is the Sant'Agnese in Agone church. The 17th century structure was designed and constructed by Girolamo and Carlo Rainaldi under the request of Pope Innocent X. Adjacent to the church is the palace of Pamphilj, the pope's family, almost as a private chapel. The outside of the church is a wide façade that represents Baroque architecture. It has a large dome and two symmetrical towers on each side. The church represents a Greek cross structure common to Roman churches. Inside the church contains many marble structures where in the main altar there contains a marble relief portraying the Miracle of Sant'Agnese. The dome sits atop eight pillars Corinthian columns that gives the church an octagonal resemblance. Also inside the crypt of Pope Innocence X rests with his funerary monument above the entrance that makes one of the first objects viewers see. The inside of Sant'Agnese in Agone additionally offers frescoes of Gaulli, Ciro Ferri and Sebastiano Corbellini in the cupola. The legend of the church states that St Agnes as a teenager refused to renounce Christ in 304 AD and in turn was cast naked and decapitated in the stadium of Domitian. Beneath the church her body remains where she was martyred.

Sant' Agnese in Agone." Churches of Rome Wiki. February 27, 2007. Wikia. 5/27/08. < http://romanchurches.wikia.com/wiki/Sant'Agnese_in_Agone>