The epitome of a Roman popular piazza, Vittorio Emanuele II Square was, until recently, the site of one of the city's largest markets. The piazza was created after the unification of Italy when the whole area was redesigned.

Rome's central bakery, central dairy and the national zinc were located here. In the center, there is a garden and what is left of a fountain built at the time of Emperor Alexander Severus, a water castle fed by two different aqueducts which then flowed into three distribution channels bringing water to different parts of the city.
Nearby is the Porta Magica, all that remains of the entrance to a villa owned by the marquis Massimo Palombara da Pietraforte, one of the most well known 17th century alchemists.
One day, one of his guests, a necromancer, gave him the formula for changing metals into gold but, because he was unable to decipher the formula and he didn't want to lose it, he had it inscribed on the door posts of his villa hoping that someone else would be able to read it.