Free audio walk in Rome
Bernini against Borromini
- 9 stops
- Free
Starts at Piazza Barberini
About this walk
This loop of about two and a half kilometres sets the work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini side by side, sometimes on the very same street corner. You see the palace they both worked on with its two staircases, the small church Borromini called his own manifesto, the church Bernini considered his finest work, and on Piazza Navona their work twenty metres apart.
The walk starts on Piazza Barberini and ends at the Ponte Sant'Angelo. The churches close for a few hours around midday, and Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza opens only a few mornings a month.
The stops
Walk them in order; each story plays when you reach its pin.
- 1Stop 1
The bee and the triton
A sea god on a shell, the bees of the family that kept both architects busy, and the start of their feud.
- 2Stop 2
The palace with two staircases
The only building both men worked on at the same time, with Bernini's staircase on the left and Borromini's on the right.
Read the story - 3Stop 3
The smallest masterpiece
Borromini's first commission of his own, smaller than one of St Peter's piers, with a dome that looks taller than it really is.
Read the story - 4Stop 4
Bernini's Answer
The church Bernini himself considered his finest work, with an oval that lies exactly the opposite way to his rival's.
Read the story - 5Stop 5
Two riders and an obelisk
Two ancient horsemen, an obelisk from the mausoleum of Augustus, and the finest view of St Peter's dome.
Read the story - 6Stop 6
The Elephant and the Obelisk
A marble elephant carrying an Egyptian obelisk on its back, with a tail that seems to be delivering a message.
Read the story - 7Stop 7
The spiral
A dome on a six-pointed star, crowned with a stone screw that appears nowhere else in the city.
Read the story - 8Stop 8
The fountain and the facade
Their work stands twenty metres apart here, and that gave the city its finest untrue story.
Read the story - 9Stop 9
The Bridge of the Angels
Ten angels holding the instruments of the crucifixion, two of which are real and stand elsewhere in the city.
Read the story
Ready when you are
Walk Bernini against Borromini with ROODS.
9 stops through Rome. Open ROODS in your browser, walk to the first pin and the story plays.
- Stories on a map, with narrated audio
- Walk at your own pace, stop where you like
- Runs in your browser. An app is optional.
