Piazza Colonna

Piazza Colonna is a square on Via del Corso that owes its name to the Column of Marcus Aurelius, standing here since 193 AD. The nearly 30-metre triumphal column commemorates the emperor's wars against the Marcomanni, with spiral reliefs modelled directly on the older Trajan's Column; in 1589 Pope Sixtus V replaced the antique figure on top with a bronze of St Paul. The square is dominated by Palazzo Chigi, since 1961 the office of the Italian prime minister; opposite sits the late-baroque Galleria Alberto Sordi with its glass dome. Today tourists drifting in from the Trevi Fountain cross paths with Romans grabbing espresso inside the Galleria; you will usually see Carabinieri guards out front of Palazzo Chigi.