Barges are not known for their inspirational qualities, but when one such vessel washed up in the piazza after the Tiber flooded on Christmas Day, 1598, Gian Lorenzo Bernini's less famous father Pietro decided to immortalize it in stone. To compensate for meager water pressure, the fountain was built below ground level.

Church of Sant'Andrea Delle Fratte

Capped by a Borromini bell tower (on which eight delicate angels fold their wings while small faces peek out of the Corinthian columns on the lower ring), Sant'Andrea's definite strength is its exterior. Nonetheless, should you have the time to tear your eyes away from Bernini's angels (and the other, even more delectable angels in the P. di Spagna), head inside to see the two seraphim near the altar, other Bernini works that originally decorated the Ponte Sant'Angelo. Their companions can still be seen along the bridge in front of Castel Sant'Angelo. Also make sure to stop at the second chapel on the left, dedicated to the miraculous appearance of the Madonna to Jewish banker Alphonse Ratisbonne on January 20, 1842. Alphonse immediately converted to Christianity, became a man of the cloth, and later worked as a missionary in Palestine. Hundreds of lace hearts now hang on the altar and its surrounding columns to commemorate the event.