Saint Peter's Square is a large plaza located directly in front of
St. Peter's Basilica in the
Vatican City, the
papalenclave inside
Rome, directly west of the neighbourhood or
rione of
Borgo.At the centre of the square is an
Egyptian obelisk, erected at the current site in 1586.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the square almost 100 years later, including the massive Tuscan
colonnades, four columns deep, which embrace visitors in "the maternal arms of Mother Church". A granite fountain constructed by Bernini in 1675 matches another fountain designed by
Carlo Maderno in 1613.