Chiesa di Sant'Agnese in Agone (Piazza Navona, Rome, the church on the western side of Piazza Navona whose façade faces the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi of Bernini): the specific Sant'Agnese in Agone history (the church built on the traditional site of the martyrdom of the 13-year-old Agnes of Rome in 304 AD, the specific martyrdom site tradition (the "in agone" designation refers to the Circus Agonalis, the specific athletic games stadium of Domitian that Piazza Navona preserves in its elongated oval plan, and within whose walls the brothel where Agnes was sent before her execution was located according to the specific hagiographic tradition of the Gesta Martyrum Romanorum)): the Agnes martyrdom (the specific Catholic martyr tradition: the 13-year-old daughter of a Christian Roman family who refused marriage to a pagan prefect's son in 304 AD, was then sent to the brothel of the stadium, miraculously preserved from violation (the specific hagiographic miracle, her hair grew supernaturally to cover her body when stripped. An angel appeared. The men who attempted to assault her were struck blind), and was then beheaded in the specific execution whose site the current Sant'Agnese in Agone church marks).
The Borromini connection: the church that currently occupies the martyrdom site was begun in 1652 by Carlo Rainaldi (for Pope Innocent X, the Pamphilj pope whose family palace (the Palazzo Pamphilj, adjacent to the church) required a specific church on the piazza as the family's commemorative building) but was given to Francesco Borromini in 1653 after the Rainaldi design proved unsatisfactory: the specific Borromini intervention (the 1653-1657 redesign of the Rainaldi church, the specific convex-concave façade movement (the concave central façade with the two flanking bell towers, the specific Borromini spatial invention that creates the illusion of greater height by pulling the façade backward and letting the towers advance) that is the Borromini contribution to Piazza Navona urban composition): open Tuesday-Sunday 9:30-12:30 and 15:00-19:00. Free admission.
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Sant'Agnese in Agone: Interior, Crypt, and the Bernini Legend
The Interior and Relic
Sant'Agnese in Agone interior (the Baroque interior completed by Carlo Rainaldi after Borromini's 1657 departure, the dome frescoes (the Ciro Ferri painting, the specific Borromini-Rainaldi division of the project), and the specific Sant'Agnese relic): the nasal bone of Saint Agnes (the nasal bone relic displayed in the specific chapel on the right side of the church, the relic whose specific preservation tradition (the nasal bone being one of the few bones of the martyred Agnes not distributed to the several Roman churches in the post-Constantine relic distribution of the 4th century) makes it the primary object of the Sant'Agnese in Agone pilgrimage). The crypt (the underground level of the Sant'Agnese church accessible from the nave, the specific excavation that exposed the ancient Roman stadium pavement and the specific foundation structures that the hagiographic tradition identifies as the brothel site): the crypt visit is the most specifically archaeological element of the Sant'Agnese in Agone experience.
The Bernini Rivalry Legend
The Bernini-Borromini Piazza Navona legend (the story that the Nile figure of Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (across the piazza from Sant'Agnese) raises his arm to shield his eyes from the Sant'Agnese façade in a Bernini insult to Borromini's design): see the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi guide for the complete chronological impossibility of this legend (the fountain was completed in 1651. Borromini's façade was designed in 1653. Bernini can't have mocked a design that didn't yet exist). The Sant'Agnese perspective on the legend: the specific visual relationship between the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi and the Sant'Agnese façade (the Nile figure's arm position when viewed from the Sant'Agnese side of the piazza) confirms that the legend has a genuine visual basis even if the chronological explanation is false, the specific Baroque visual dialogue between Bernini's fountain and Borromini's church is real regardless of its intentionality.
Q&A: Sant'Agnese in Agone
Is the Sant'Agnese crypt worth visiting?
Yes, the Sant'Agnese in Agone crypt (the underground access available during church opening hours, the staircase from the right side of the nave) provides the most physically specific archaeological connection to the ancient Circus Agonalis (the Domitian stadium whose oval plan Piazza Navona preserves): the visible ancient Roman pavement, the stadium foundation walls, and the specific saint's-site atmosphere (the point in the underground level directly below the main altar where the tradition identifies the Agnes martyrdom) justify the 15-minute crypt visit for any visitor interested in either Roman archaeology or Catholic martyrdom history. The crypt visit combined with the Borromini façade observation (the best Borromini observation position is from the Bernini fountain or from the north end of the piazza, the specific angle that shows the façade concavity and the tower relationship) constitutes the complete Sant'Agnese in Agone visit in 30 minutes.
