Attractions

Rome Architecture – Fountains

Rome architecture is not only ancient structures and monuments, renaissance villas and palaces, but also elaborate fountains that are definitely worth seeing. There are innumerable fountains in Rome, ranging from the monumental Trevi Fountain and Bernini's Fountain of the Rivers to the humble iron drinking fountains which can be seen everywhere. (The Romans call these nasoni - "big noses" - because of the shape of their spout.) This page describes some of Rome's most famous fountains and nine fontane rionali (neighborhood fountains), which the City of Rome commissioned from an architect called Pietro Lombardi in 1926; all made of white travertine stone, quarried in the hills near Tivoli.

Fontana Dell'Acqua Paola
Via Garibaldi, Rome, Italy

With a facade inspired by the, classic for ancient Rome architecture, triumphal arches and worthy of an important church, this 17th-century fountain was commissioned by Pope Paul V to celebrate his renovation of Trajan's 1st-century AD aqueduct. This fountain has a namesake in the large but less imposing fountain that is the centerpiece in Piazza Trilussa, which was moved across the river from Via Giulia in 1898 when the Tiber's embankments were constructed. It, too, was built by Paul V.

Fontana di Trevi
Piazza di Trevi, Rome, Italy

Trevi Fountain. Alive with rushing waters and marble sea creatures commanded by an imperious Oceanus, this aquatic marvel is one of the city's most exciting sights of Rome architecture. The work of Nicola Salvi -- though it's thought that Bernini may have been responsible for parts of the design -- was completed in 1762 and is a perfect example of the rococo taste in Rome architecture for dramatic theatrical effects. The water comes from the Acqua Vergine aqueduct, and is so called because of the legend that it was a young girl, a vergine, who showed its source to thirsty Roman soldiers. The story is pictured in the relief on the right of the figure of Oceanus. Usually thickly fringed with tourists tossing coins into the basin to ensure their return to Rome (the fountain grosses about EUR120,000 a year, most of it donated to charity), the fountain took center stage for Anita Ekberg's famous dip in La Dolce Vita. (Unfortunately, the fountain is turned off during the wee hours and occasionally at other times for cleaning. If that's the case when you arrive, make a point of returning another day to see it in full gush.)

Fontana dei Monti

Via S. Vito, Rome, Italy

The Fountain of the Hills stands in Via S. Vito. Three stylized mounts, decorated with stars, represent the hills which form part of the rione: Esquiline, Viminal and Caelian.The Rione Monti is the largest of the rioni. It stretches across three of Rome 's seven hills and extends from St. Mary Major to St. John Lateran.

Fontana degli Artisti

Via Margutta, Rome, Italy

The Fountain of the Artists stands on Via Margutta, a street where many painters used to have their studios. The water pours from the mouths of two masks, propped on artist's stools; above, a stone bucket contains painter's brushes of various sizes. This rione occupies the low-lying area between Piazza del Popolo and Piazza di Spagna. (In ancient Roman times it was used for martial exercises, hence the name.) Because the area lies just inside the city gate, it has always been much frequented by foreigners, who used to travel from the north along the Via Flaminia. During the 18th and early 19th century, it became a favorite Rome architecture haunt of writers and artists.

Fontana della Pigna

Piazza San Marco, Rome, Italy

The pine-cone which gave its name to the area between Piazza Venezia and the Pantheon is a bronze fountain dating from the 1st or 2nd century A.D. In about 800 it was moved to St. Peter's, where it stood in the courtyard of the Constantinian basilica. When this was demolished in the 16th century, the pine-cone was moved to its present position in the Belvedere Courtyard inside the Vatican . Lombardi's Fountain of the Pine-cone stands in Piazza San Marco, near the foot of Capitol Hill. It is a smaller version of the original, mounted on a stem above stylized leaves, with drinking spouts on either side.

Fontana dei Libri

Via Staderari, Rome, Italy

The Fountain of the Books is on Via Staderari, to one side of the Palazzo Sapienza. It consists of two shelves, each bearing two books, with tasselled bookmarks from which the water runs. In the center is a relief of a stag's head. This rione lies between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona, around the church of S. Eustachio. Its emblem is a stag's head, on account of the legend of St. Eustace, which tells how a Roman patrician, while out hunting, saw a stag with a cross between its horns and was converted. He later met his death as a martyr, together with all his family. The rione was the seat of Rome's first university, which was founded in the Palazzo Sapienza in 1303.

Fontana delle Palle di Cannone

Via di Porta Castello, Rome, Italy

The Fountain of the Cannon-balls stands on Via di Porta Castello. Stone cannon-balls, such as those which used to be fired from the nearby castle, form a pyramid; water issues from the mouth of a face in the middle of the pile. Castel Sant'Angelo was built by the emperor Hadrian as a mauseoleum for himself and his family. In the Middle Ages it was made into a castle and played a fundamental role in the defense of Rome and the Vatican. The area to the north of Castel Sant'Angelo was occupied by meadows (prati) until the end of the 19th century.

Fontana delle Tiare

Largo del Colonnato, Rome, Italy

The Fountain of the Tiaras stands just outside the colonnade of St. Peter's, on the northern side, in Largo del Colonnato. It is formed by four tiaras (the beehive-shaped papal head-dress), decorated with fine reliefs. (The fountain has recently been restored.) The Rione Borgo, between Castel Sant'Angelo and St. Peter's, takes its name from a township - burgh in Anglo-Saxon - founded here in the 6th century by Totila, King of the Goths. It later became papal property and has always been closely associated with the Vatican.

Fontana della Botte

Via della Cisterna, Rome, Italy

The Fountain of the Barrel stands in Via della Cisterna, near Piazza S. Callisto. It consists of an upright barrel with a wine-jug on either side. The water flows from a spout in the side of the barrel into a stone wine-vat beneath. When the fountain was first inaugurated, in 1927, it was connected to a large barrel of real wine instead of the aqueduct, to the joy of the inhabitants of the rione . Trastevere takes its name from Trans Tiberim - "beyond the Tiber" - as it was known in ancient Roman times: it lies across the river from the main part of the city. The Rione Trastevere, which occupies the area around the Basilica of S. Maria in Trastevere, has always been renowned for its numerous taverns.

Fontana del Timone

Lungotevere Ripa, Rome, Italy

The Fountain of the Helm stands on Lungotevere Ripa, against the wall of the Istituto San Michele. In the upper part is the wheel of a boat, the emblem of the Rione Ripa. Beneath, a bollard stands on either side, with a ring carved in relief. This rione , which occupies the southern part of present-day Trastevere, was of great importance from Roman times until the last century. It was the site of a bustling river-port, where goods arrived in Rome by barge up the Tiber.

Fontana delle Anfore

Via Marmorata, Rome, Italy

The Fountain of the Amphorae is located at the river end of Via Marmorata, near Ponte Sublicio. It is a free-standing fountain, the largest of those built by Pietro Lombardi. A composition of tall vases stands at the center of a symmetrical construction, with drinking-spouts on all sides. This area, on the opposite side of the river from Trastevere, was Rome's first river-port, in the days when Ostia was the city's sea-port. Until the 2nd century, buffalo used to walk along a tow-path on the southern side of the Tiber pulling barges laden with goods up the river from Ostia to Testaccio. (Later, the port of Ostia silted up and a new harbor, Portus, was built on the northern side of the Tiber, near modern Fiumicino.) Wine and oil were transported in terracotta vases known as amphorae . Excavations in Monte Testaccio have revealed that this hill consists entirely of broken vases.

Barcaccacia

Piazza di Sagna, Rome, Italy

The fountain in the form of a small boat, placed on Piazza di Spagna, is made by Bernini's father. Pope Urban VIII Barberini had ordered Pietro Bernini to create the fountain. On this fountain you can distinguish Barberini's emblem.

Piazza Barberini

Junction of Via del Tritone, Via Veneto , Via Quattro Fontane, and Via Sistina, Rome, Italy

One of Rome 's more modern quarters, this district was built during the late-19th-century construction boom on the site of the lush gardens of Villa Ludovisi, a patrician family's estate that had in turn been built over the celebrated ancient Roman gardens of Sallust. The piazza, a picturesque marketplace during the 17th and 18th centuries, has lost its original charm in the rush of progress. Undistinguished modern buildings overshadow the older ones, and traffic circles the Bernini Fontana del Tritone (Triton Fountain). Bernini's baroque centerpiece in Piazza Barberini was created in 1637 for Pope Urban VIII, whose Barberini coat of arms is at the base of the large shell. The fountain's triton blows into his conch shell with gusto, sending an arc of water into the air. In a city of beautiful fountains, this is one of the most vivacious.