Picture of the Colonnade and the Dome of St. Peters

The eliptical colonnade by Bernini frames the entrance to St. Peter's Basilica. Bernini's original idea was that the visitor would be walking down one of the narrow lanes of the neighborhood, dodging children playing and laundry flapping in the breeze, and would come upon this grand piazza, the piazza di San Pietro, a glorious suprise contrasting with the grime and minutia of everyday life. Mussolini bashed through the neighborhood, laying down the Via della Conciliazione, which is now the main access to St. Peter's Square. Drawing delight from pleasant suprise, one of the differences separating artists from tyrants.