The Fountains of Rome the eternal city
There is no place in the world that can boast a so vast number of fountains like Rome
Astonishing marble works of art, often of drinkable water, scattered around Rome, that make the Eternal City even more extraordinary. Exists an enduring and unique connection between Romans and their fountains, Italy’s capital in fact was indicated by Ancient Romans as Regina Aquarum (the Queen of the water). For the Romans, water was a gift of Gods and each spring had a tutelary deity, Nymphs. Water, essential for life and hygiene, was the central element of Ancient Rome social relations, and rulers through the fountains embellished Rome, making their imprint.
Well, we have to be grateful to them, going around the different areas of the city we can spot indeed plenty of amazing and majestic marble masterpieces. Let’s take a trip around Rome’s most beautiful ones. Here our top 5!
The Fountain of the Tritons
Rome Fountains Tour
The Fountain of the Tritonsis in Piazza Bocca della Verità, in front of the basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. Completed in 1715 by the architect Carlo Francesco Bizzaccheri, its main basin represents an octagon, that was the heraldic symbol of the family of Pope Clement XI, who ordered its construction. In the centre there is a group of rocks with bushes on which two tritons are knelt sustaining on their shoulders a big oyster shell serving as upper basin. Between the two tritons there is the coat of arms of the pontiff.
The “Fontana della Barcaccia”
Rome Fountains Tour
The “Fontana della Barcaccia” (the No Good Boat) is a Baroque fresh-water fountain in the Piazza di Spagna, just below the Spanish Steps. It is so named because it is in the shape of a half-sunken ship with water overflowing its bows. The shape perhaps recalls a ship found after a Tiber River flood that flooded Piazza di Spagna as well. The fountain was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII and was completed in 1627 by Pietro Bernini and his son Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
The Fountain of the Four Rivers
Rome Fountains Tour
The Fountain of the Four Rivers in Navona Square, is one of the most famous of Rome and it is so called because represents the four major rivers of the four continents then known: the Nile, the Danube, the Ganges, and the Río de la Plata. It was designed in 1651 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for Pope Innocent X whose family palace, the Palazzo Pamphili, faced onto the piazza. Four river gods and above them an ancient Egyptian obelisk surmounted with the Pamphili family emblem of a dove with an olive twig.
The Trevi Fountain
Rome Fountains Tour
The Trevi Fountain this monumental and iconic fountain is the largest in Rome and the most famous in the whole world. It is the result of several interventions, included the one of the great Gian Lorenzo Bernini, but it was completed in 1766 by Nicola Salvi and Giuseppe Pannini. In the middle we can admire an imposing statue of the god Oceanus on a shell-shaped chariot driven by two horses steered by tritons. Laterally we can see the sculptures of “Abundance” and “Salubrity”.
The “Fontana delle Tartarughe”
Rome Fountains Tour
The “Fontana delle Tartarughe” (The Turtle Fountain) is a fountain of the late Italian Renaissance located in the Piazza Mattei. Smaller than the previous ones, in a less famous place at the borders of the ancient Jewish Ghetto, it was designed by Giacomo Della Porta. Elegant artifact in marble and bronze it presents in the centre statues of four ephebes resting one foot on the head of four dolphins that pour water out of their mouths into likewise conch shells. The hands of the ephebes hold four turtles from which the fountain is named for.
There are many other enchanting fountains in Rome, we can finda large number of them, even in hidden alleys and off beaten path neighborhoods, each one with its own characteristics. If you have become fond of this topic and are under their spell, contact us, we are going to plan a special Rome’s Fountains Tour to discover all the secrets of these enchanting monuments.
