Rome - Sant'Agnese

The church of Sant'Agnese, on the west side of the Piazza Navona, is dedicated to the Roman martyr St Agnes. It is built on the foundations of one side of the Stadium of Domitian, on the spot where, according to legend, the saint was about to be exposed naked to the populace when her hair suddenly and miraculously grew long to cover her nakedness. St Agnes is supposed to have been executed at the place where the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le Mura stands.

Sant'Agnese, which adjoins the Palazzo Pamphili, was founded by Pope Innocent X, a member of the Pamphili family, and built by a succession of architects - first Girolamo Rainaldi (1652), then Borromini (1653-57) and finally Carlo Rainaldi (1672). The facade, campanile and dome