The Custom of Turning a Piazza into a Lake

Map

The 'Lago di Piazza Navona' by Tommaso Cuccioni, 1858

---

For more than two centuries, on Sundays during the month of August, it was the custom to flood the Piazza Navona. 

The creation of what came to be known as the 'lago di Piazza Navona' started in 1652, the year after Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) was completed, and lasted until 1867, when the level of the piazza was raised. 

---