St Peter's square has an optical illusion too.
Designed by Bernini, the colonnades must have appeared to pilgrims as open arms welcoming them in to the most important basilica in the Christian world.
If you stand on one of the two circles of stone set between the fountains and the obelisk the columns will appear as a single line.
The church of St Ignazio can be found in the delightful piazza of the same name which resembles a theatrical set.
More theatre inside the church where all isn't as it seems. That splendid dome isn't a dome at all but a trompe l'oeil ceiling frescoed by Andrea Pozzi.
In the main living room of the villa, Salone delle Prospettive, we catch glimpses of Trastevere and the Borgo between porphyry columns. Not real glimpses of course but yet another example of trompe l'oeil.
Perhaps the most famous optical illusion in Rome is that found in Palazzo Spada. Borromini used false perspective to create a corridor that appears four times longer than it really is.
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