Fountain in front of Villa Medici on Pincio Rome

This is a list of the notable

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were ori ...

s in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy. Rome has fifty monumental fountains and hundreds of smaller fountains, over 2000 fountains in all, more than any other city in the world.

History

For more than two thousand years

s have provided drinking water and decorated the piazzas of Rome. During the Roman Empire, in 98 AD, according to Sextus Julius Frontinus, the Roman consul who was named ''

curator aquarum The ''Curator Aquarum'' was a Roman official responsible for managing Rome's water supply and distributing free grain. Curators were appointed by the emperor. The first curator was Agrippa. Another notable ''Curator Aquarum'' was Frontinus, a R ...

'' or guardian of the water of the city, Rome had nine

aqueducts Aqueduct may refer to: Structures *Aqueduct (bridge), a bridge to convey water over an obstacle, such as a ravine or valley *Navigable aqueduct, or water bridge, a structure to carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railw ...

which fed 39 monumental fountains and 591 public basins, not counting the water supplied to the Imperial household, baths and owners of private villas. Each of the major fountains was connected to two different aqueducts, in case one was shut down for service. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the aqueducts were wrecked or fell into disrepair, and the fountains stopped working. In the 14th century,

Pope Nicholas V Pope Nicholas V ( la, Nicholaus V; it, Niccolò V; 13 November 1397 – 24 March 1455), born Tommaso Parentucelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 March 1447 until his death in March 1455. Pope Eugene made ...

(1397–1455), a scholar who commissioned hundreds of translations of ancient Greek classics into Latin, decided to embellish the city and make it a worthy capital of the Christian world. In 1453 he began to rebuild the

Acqua Vergine Acqua Vergine is one of several Roman aqueducts that deliver pure drinking water to Rome. Its name derives from its predecessor Aqua Virgo, which was constructed by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in 19 BC. Its terminal castellum is located at the Ba ...

, the ruined Roman aqueduct which had brought clean drinking water to the city from eight miles (13 km) away. He also decided to revive the Roman custom of marking the arrival point of an aqueduct with a ''mostra'', a grand commemorative fountain. He commissioned the architect

Leon Battista Alberti Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. H ...

to build a wall fountain where the

Trevi Fountain The Trevi Fountain ( it, Fontana di Trevi) is an 18th-century fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, Italy, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini and several others. Standing high and wide, it is the lar ...

is now located. Alberti restored, modified, and expanded the aqueduct that supplied both the Trevi Fountain as well as the famous baroque fountains in the

Piazza del Popolo Piazza del Popolo is a large urban square in Rome. The name in modern Italian language, Italian literally means "People's Square", but historically it derives from the Populus, poplars (''populus'' in Latin language, Latin, ''pioppo'' in Italian) ...

and

Piazza Navona Piazza Navona () is a public open space in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in the 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans went there to watch the '' agones' ...

. One of the first new fountains to be built in Rome during the Renaissance was the

Fountain in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere The Fountain in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere is a fountain located in the square in front of the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome, Italy. It is believed to be the oldest fountain in Rome, dating back, according to some sources, to th ...

(1499), which was placed on the site of an earlier Roman fountain. Its design, based on an earlier Roman model, with a circular vasque on a pedestal pouring water into a basin below, became the model for many other fountains in Rome, and eventually for fountains in other cities, from Paris to London. During the 17th and 18th century the Roman popes reconstructed other ruined Roman aqueducts and built new display fountains to mark their termini, launching the golden age of the Roman fountain. The fountains of Rome, like the paintings of Rubens, were expressions of the new style of Baroque art. They were crowded with allegorical figures, and filled with emotion and movement. In these fountains, sculpture became the principal element, and the water was used simply to animate and decorate the sculptures. They, like baroque gardens, were "a visual representation of confidence and power." The most famous Roman fountains of this period include: *The

Fountains of St. Peter's Square The Fountains of St. Peter's Square ( it, Fontane di Piazza San Pietro) are two fountains in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, created by Carlo Maderno (1612–1614) and Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1667–1677) to ornament the square in front of St. P ...

, by

Carlo Maderno Carlo Maderno (Maderna) (1556 – 30 January 1629) was an Italian architect, born in today's Ticino, who is remembered as one of the fathers of Baroque architecture. His façades of Santa Susanna, St. Peter's Basilica and Sant'Andrea della Vall ...

(1614) and Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1677) were made to complement the lavish Baroque facade Maderno designed for

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

. The Maderno fountain was built on the site of an earlier fountain from 1490, and used the same lower basin. The Bernini fountain was added a half-century later. *The

Triton Fountain Fontana del Tritone (''Triton Fountain'') is a seventeenth-century fountain in Rome, by the Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Commissioned by his patron, Pope Urban VIII, the fountain is located in the Piazza Barberini, near the entrance to ...

in the

Piazza Barberini Piazza Barberini is a large piazza in the ''centro storico'' or city center of Rome, Italy and situated on the Quirinal Hill. It was created in the 16th century but many of the surrounding buildings have subsequently been rebuilt. The current ...

(1642), by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, is a masterpiece of Baroque sculpture, representing

Triton Triton commonly refers to: * Triton (mythology), a Greek god * Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune Triton may also refer to: Biology * Triton cockatoo, a parrot * Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails * ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...

, half-man and half-fish, blowing his horn to calm the waters, following a text by the Roman poet

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

in the

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

. *

is a grand theater of water – it has three fountains, built in a line on the site of the

Stadium of Domitian The Stadium of Domitian ( it, Stadio di Domiziano), also known as the ''Circus Agonalis'', was located to the north of the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy. The Stadium was commissioned around AD 80 by the Emperor Titus Flavius Domitianus as a gift t ...

. The fountains at either end are by

Giacomo della Porta Giacomo della Porta (1532–1602) was an Italian architect and sculptor, who worked on many important buildings in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica. He was born at Porlezza, Lombardy and died in Rome. Biography Giacomo Della Porta was ...

; the Neptune fountain to the north, (1572) shows the God of the Sea spearing an octopus, surrounded by Tritons, sea horses and

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes ass ...

s. At the southern end is La Fontana del Moro, a figure either of an African (a Moor) or of Neptune wrestling with a dolphin. In the center is the

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (''Fountain of the Four Rivers'') is a fountain in the Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. It was designed in 1651 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for Pope Innocent X whose family palace, the Palazzo Pamphili, faced onto the piazza a ...

, (The Fountain of the Four Rivers) (1648–51), a highly theatrical fountain by Bernini, with statues representing rivers from the four continents; the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

Plate River Plate may refer to: Cooking * Plate (dishware), a broad, mainly flat vessel commonly used to serve food * Plates, tableware, dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining * Plate, the content of such a plate (for example: ...

and

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

. Over the whole structure is a Egyptian obelisque, crowned by a cross with the emblem of the

Pamphili The House of Pamphili (often with the final ''long i'' orthography, Pamphilj) was one of the papal families deeply entrenched in Catholic Church, Roman and Italian politics of the 16th and 17th centuries. Later, the Pamphili family line merged w ...

family, representing

Pope Innocent X Pope Innocent X ( la, Innocentius X; it, Innocenzo X; 6 May 1574 – 7 January 1655), born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj (or Pamphili), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 September 1644 to his death in Januar ...

, whose family palace was on the piazza. *The

is the largest and most spectacular of Rome's fountains, designed to glorify the three different Popes who created it. It was built beginning in 1730 at the terminus of the reconstructed

aqueduct, on the site of Renaissance fountain by

. It was the work of architect

Nicola Salvi Nicola Salvi or Niccolò Salvi (6 August 1697 (Rome) – 8 February 1751 (Rome)) was an Italian architect; among his few projects completed is the famous Trevi fountain in Rome, Italy. Biography Admitted to the Roman Academy of Arcadia in 1717 ...

and the successive project of Pope Clement XII,

Pope Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope Be ...

and

Pope Clement XIII Pope Clement XIII ( la, Clemens XIII; it, Clemente XIII; 7 March 1693 – 2 February 1769), born Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 July 1758 to his death in February 1769. ...

, whose emblems and inscriptions are carried on the attic story, entablature and central niche. The central figure is Oceanus, the personification of all the seas and oceans, in an oyster-shell chariot, surrounded by Tritons and Sea

Nymphs A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...

. The fountains of Rome all operated purely by gravity- the source of water had to be higher than the fountain itself, and the difference in elevation and distance between the source and the fountain determined how high the fountain could shoot water. The fountain in St. Peter's Square was fed by the Paola aqueduct, restored in 1612, whose source was above sea level, which meant it could shoot water twenty feet up from the fountain. The Triton fountain benefited from its location in a valley, and the fact that it was fed by the Aqua Felice aqueduct, restored in 1587, which arrived in Rome at an elevation of above sea level (fasi), a difference of in elevation between the source and the fountain, which meant that the water from this fountain jetted sixteen feet straight up into the air from the conch shell of the Triton. The fountains of

, on the other hand, took their water from the

, which had only a drop from the source to the fountains, which meant the water could only fall or trickle downwards, not jet very high upwards. For the Trevi Fountain, the architect Nicola Salvi compensated for this problem by sinking the fountain down into the ground, and by carefully designing the cascade so that the water churned and tumbled, to add movement and drama. Today all of the fountains have been rebuilt, and the Roman water system uses both gravity and mechanical pumps. Water is recycled and water from different aqueducts is sometimes mixed before it reaches the fountains and performs for the spectators.Katherine Wentworth Rinne, collected in Marilyn Symmes, ''Fountains- Splash and Spectacle''. (pg. 54). This (incomplete) list contains important

s in the city:

Monumental fountains

These fountains were built at the termini of the restored aqueducts of Rome, to supply water to the population and to glorify the Popes who built them. File:Fontana dell'Acqua Felice (Rome).jpg,

Fontana dell'Acqua Felice The Fontana dell'Acqua Felice, also called the Fountain of Moses, is a monumental fountain located in the Quirinale District of Rome, Italy. It marked the terminus of the Acqua Felice aqueduct restored by Pope Sixtus V. It was designed by Domen ...

File:Fontana dell'Acqua Paola01.jpg,

Fontana dell'Acqua Paola The Fontana dell'Acqua Paola also known as Il Fontanone ("The big fountain") is a monumental fountain located on the Janiculum Hill, near the church of San Pietro in Montorio, in Rome, Italy. It was built in 1612 to mark the end of the Acqua Pa ...

File:Panorama of Trevi fountain 2015.jpg, The

in the Quirinal District, by

Domenico Fontana Domenico Fontana (154328 June 1607) was an Italian architect of the late Renaissance, born in today's Ticino. He worked primarily in Italy, at Rome and Naples. Biography He was born at Melide, a village on the Lake Lugano, at that time joint p ...

(1585–86) *

(Gianicolo, Via Garibaldi) (1610–1612) * Fontana di Trevi, (

) (1732–1762)

Decorative fountains

These fountains were linked to the restored aqueducts, decorated the piazzi, or squares, of Rome, and provided drinking water to the population around the squares. File:Santa Maria in Trastevere fountain.jpg, the

(1499-1659) File:RomaBerniniFontanaApi.JPG,

Fontana delle Api Fontana delle Api (''Fountain of the Bees'') is a fountain located in the Piazza Barberini in Rome where the Via Veneto enters the piazza. It was sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and completed in April 1644. Description ''Fontana delle Api'' co ...

(Fountains of the Bees) (1644) File:Campitelli - fontana di piazza Araceli 1909.JPG,

Fontana di Piazza d'Aracoeli The fountain in the Piazza d'Aracoeli is a fountain in Rome ( Italy), located at the base of the Capitoline Hill, in the little square with the same name. Description It is one of the first and simplest of Renaissance fountains that would emb ...

, (1589) File:Acqua Acetosa 3060-1.JPG , Fontana dell'Acqua Acetosa Image:Fontana della Barcaccia 2.jpg,

Fontana della Barcaccia The Fontana della Barcaccia (; "Fountain of the Boat") is a Baroque-style fountain found at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome's Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Square). Pope Urban VIII commissioned Pietro Bernini in 1623 to build the fountain as p ...

, (1627) File:CampoFioriFontana.JPG, Fountain in

Campo de' Fiori Campo de' Fiori (, literally "field of flowers") is a rectangular square south of Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy, at the border between rione Parione and rione Regola. It is diagonally southeast of the Palazzo della Cancelleria and one block nort ...

File:XIX century print, Piazza colonna, roma.jpg, Fontana di Piazza Colonna (1577 - 19th century print) Image:Quirinale - Fontana dei Dioscuri.JPG, Fontana dei Dioscuri (1818) File:PzzaFarneseFontana3.JPG, One of the two twin Fontane di Piazza Farnese, in front of the

Palazzo Farnese Palazzo Farnese () or Farnese Palace is one of the most important High Renaissance palaces in Rome. Owned by the Italian Republic, it was given to the French government in 1936 for a period of 99 years, and currently serves as the French emb ...

(16th century) File:Moor Fountain.jpg, La Fontana del Moro in

(1575) File:Falda Sergio e Bacco.jpg, Fountain of the Piazza dei Monti, by

Giacomo Della Porta Giacomo della Porta (1532–1602) was an Italian architect and sculptor, who worked on many important buildings in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica. He was born at Porlezza, Lombardy and died in Rome. Biography Giacomo Della Porta was ...

, (1589) illustration from ''Fontane di Roma'' by Giovanni Batista Falda, about 1670 File:Fountain_of_Neptune,_Rome.jpg, Fountain of Neptune, Rome,

(1574/1878) File:Fontana del Nettuno, Piazza del Popolo.jpg, Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune),

(Fountain 1574, Neptune added 1878) File:Fontana-dell-Obelisco-Rome.jpg, Fontana dell Obelisco,

(assumed about 1828) Image:Piazza esedra 051112-04.JPG, Fontana delle Naiadi on Piazza della Repubblica (1888) File:Pantheon façana.JPG, Fontana del Pantheon (1575) File:Cortile della Pigna - lance mountain.jpg, Fontana della Pigna (1st century AD) Image:Obelisk in Piazza Navona.jpg,

(1651) Image: Vatican_Piazza_San_Petro_Brunnen.JPG,

by Carlo Maderno (1614) and Bernini (1677) Image:The Turtle Fountain.jpg,

Fontana delle Tartarughe Fontana may refer to: Places Italy *Fontana Liri, comune in the Province of Frosinone *Fontanafredda, comune in the Province of Pordenone * Fontanarosa, comune in the Province of Avellino *Francavilla Fontana, comune in the Province of Brindisi ...

, (The Turtle Fountain) Piazza Mattei (1588) File:Tritonbrunnen rom.JPG, Fontana del Tritone,

(1642–43) * Fontana delle Anfore (Fountain of the Amphorae), in Piazza dell'Emporio, near the Ponte Sublicio, by Pietro Lombardi (1927) *

in Piazza d'Aracoeli, at the base of the

Capitoline Hill The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; it, Campidoglio ; la, Mons Capitolinus ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. ...

(1589) *Fontana dell'Acqua Acetosa *

(Fountain of the Bees) in the

, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1644). *

(Fountain of the Old Boat),

Piazza di Spagna Piazza di Spagna ("Spanish Square"), at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, is one of the most famous squares in Rome, Italy. It owes its name to the Palazzo di Spagna, the seat of the Embassy of Spain to the Holy See. There is also the famed Colum ...

(1627) * Fontana di Piazza Colonna in the Piazza Colonna, (completed 1577) * Fontana dei Dioscuri in front of the resident of the President of Italy in the

Piazza del Quirinale The Quirinal Palace ( it, Palazzo del Quirinale ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, one of the three current official residences of the President of Italy, president of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenu ...

(1818) * Fountain of Valle Giulia * Twin Fontane di Piazza Farnese in front of the

, in

Piazza Farnese Piazza Farnese is the main square of the Regola district of Rome, Italy. History The history and breadth of the square began in 16th century, when Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, future Paul III, bought several houses on the square to demolish th ...

(16th century) * La Fontana del Moro,

, fountain by

, (1575), statue of Moor by Bernini added in 1653) * Fontana delle Naiadi, (Fountain of the Naiades), Piazza della Repubblica, (1870–1901) * Nasone - iconic type of drinking water fountain *

Fontana del Nettuno, Piazza del Popolo The Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune) is a monumental fountain located in the Piazza del Popolo in Rome. History It was constructed in 1822–23 at the terminus of a newly built aqueduct, the Acqua Vergine Nuovo.M.G. Tolomeo, "Le fontane ...

* Fontana del Nettuno,

, (1574) *

Fontana di Piazza Nicosia The Fontana di Piazza Nicosia is a fountain in Rome, Italy, is the first of the modern fountains of Rome. It is located in the square with the same name. History Built in 1572 after the re-activation of the Acqua Vergine aqueduct, it was designed ...

, originally in

,(1572), moved to Piazza Nicosia in 1823. * Fontana del Pantheon, by

(1575, with Egyptian obelisk added in 1711) * Fontana del Pianto designed by Giacomo della Porte in 1590 * Fontana della Pigna (Pine Cone Fountain), in the Cortile della Pigna of

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

. (Sculpture from 1st century, moved to present site in 1608). *

(Fountain of the Four Rivers),

(1648–1651) *

Fontana della Piazza dei Quiriti The Fontana della Piazza dei Quiriti is a fountain in the Piazza dei Quiriti in Rome, in the middle of the Prati rione. The plaza is named after the inhabitants of the city of Cures, the ''Curites'' or later ''Quirites'', namely the Sabines, who ...

in Piazza dei Quiriti, (1927–28). * Fontana del Tritone, (

)

(1642–43) *

, (The Turtle Fountain), Piazza Mattei (1585–1588) *Fountains in the garden of

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...

– several garden fountains

Talking statues of Rome

File:Roma-fontana del babuino.jpg, Il Babbuino Image:Fontana del facchino a via Lata.JPG,

Il Facchino ''Il Facchino'' ( it, Il Facchino, ''The Porter'') is one of the talking statues of Rome. Like the other five "talking statues", pasquinades - irreverent satires poking fun at public figures - were posted beside ''Il Facchino'' in the 14th and 15t ...

File:Marforio.JPG,

Marphurius Marphurius or Marforio ( it, Marforio; Medieval la, Marphurius, ) is one of the talking statues of Rome. Marforio maintained a friendly rivalry with his most prominent rival, Pasquin. As at the other five "talking statues", pasquinades—irrevere ...

, or Marforio * Il Babuino (The Baboon), one of the so-called "

Talking statues of Rome The talking statues of Rome ( it, statue parlanti di Roma) or the Congregation of Wits () provided an outlet for a form of anonymous political expression in Rome. Criticisms in the form of poems or witticisms were posted on well-known statues in ...

" and fountain in via del Babuino (1581) *

(The Water Porter), one of the Talking statues of Rome, on Via Lata (about 1580). *

. Roman statue of a river god or Oceanus from 1st century, fountain from 1592.

Wall fountains

File:Roma10(js).jpg, Fontana del Mascherone *Fontana del Mascherone (Big Mask Fountain), Via Giulia, (1626) * The Quattro Fontane (the Four Fountains) (1588–1593)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Fountains In Rome Rome fountains