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Rome - Fountains of Rome
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Fancy a tour that is a little out of the ordinary? Forget palazzi, museums and hills, and think...Fountains!! By visiting the famous fountains in the city, you will learn some history, become an art critic and appreciate the beauty of some of the loveliest piazzas in the 'Citt Eterna'. Rome has a great number of fountains in various shapes and sizes, of varying beauty and of varying fame. This large number is due to the fact that fontane have always been considered to be the best possible embellishment to the city, adornments 'par excellence'. Some of the elegant fountains are simply for decoration, but thankfully, almost every piazza and many streets have nasoni or 'Roman noses' - these are small fountains made of cast iron, offering drinkable water.

Many of the most famous fountains in Rome are located in the centre of the city and were designed and built by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, one of the greatest sculptors and architects of the seventeenth century, who was also a town planner and left signs of his brilliance throughout Rome. The first fountain by Bernini is the Barcaccia, which is located at the foot of the steps of Trinit dei Monti in Piazza di Spagna. In the summer evenings, the steps are filled with Romans and tourists who relax and enjoy one another's company. Some of the city's most fashionable boutiques are located in the streets that surround the piazza. The fountain dates from 1627-29 and was commissioned by Pope Urbano VIII Barberini, and is decorated with Barberinian apes in his honour. The fountain's design is based on an enormous ship that is slowly sinking; it was created in memory of those who lost their lives when the Tevere flooded the entire area at the end of the sixteenth century. In reality, the fountain was the work of Pietro Bernini, father of the more famous Gian Lorenzo, whose son collaborated on this work.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini was the exclusive designer of the Fontana del Tritone in Piazza Barberini between 1642 and 1643. This fountain represents a Triton in a shell surrounded by four dolphins. With this work, Bernini sought to symbolise the power of Pope Barberini. There is another fountain by the same artist in the square. This is the Fontana delle Api, which was built at around the same time as Fontana del Tritone. It was dismantled in 1880 and reconstructed in 1917 at the crossroads of Via Veneto and Via di S. Basilio. Unfortunately, the current version is not much like the original and only part of the fountain can be said to be authentic. Bernini's most famous fountain is the Quattro Fiumi, which stands at the centre of Piazza Navona. It was built in marble and travertine stone between 1648 and 1651, and is said to be the most beautiful fountain in Rome, which accounts for its fame. The four statues decorating the Quattro Fiumi represent four rivers, symbols of the four parts of the world that were known at that time. The Danube is Europe, The Nile is Africa, the Ganges is Asia and Rio represents the Americas. At the south end of the square stands another fountain that was designed by Bernini, and built by Antonio Mari in 1653. Mari was extremely loyal to the creator's design of the Fontana del Moro, (the Moor's fountain). The fountain takes its name from the triton with African features who stands fighting a dolphin amidst the seas.

The Trevi Fountain (located in Piazza Trevi) is one of the most famous fountains in the world, not least because of the scene from Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, when the beautiful Anita Ekberg mesmerizes the equally good-looking Marcello Mastroianni. It is said that if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain that you will certainly return to Rome one day. The Trevi fountain was created by Bernini and Pietro da Cortona, but was not completed until a century later (c.1751) when Nicola Salvi was commissioned to finish the work. The fountain itself is a delicious confection of columns, horses, Tritons and Neptune. If you happen to be strolling through the streets of Rome during the summer (at around 2 or 3 am), you are likely to come across vagrants (barboni) retrieving coins from the fountain!

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Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees

See the Sea God

Piazza Barberini
Rome, Rome 00187
Italy

In the middle of the congested Piazza Barberini stands the Fountain of Triton, one of Bernini's finest. It shows the sea-god Triton carved into the centre of a shell. It was ordered by Pope Urban VIII Barberini, as was the other fountain in the square, the Fountain of the Bees. It takes its name from the bees of the Barberini coat of arms, sculpted into the fountain.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by Dalton

Photo: Dalton

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Photo: markham breitbach

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by Tania Humphreys

Photo: Tania Humphreys

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by Jonathan Skaines

Photo: Jonathan Skaines

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by Megan Schmidt

Photo: Megan Schmidt

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by Whit Andrews

Photo: Whit Andrews

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by Melody Kristensen

Photo: Melody Kristensen

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by Brian Mosley

Photo: Brian Mosley

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by Chibi Mech

Photo: Chibi Mech

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Photo: stuart and paul

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by Ronald Hatcher

Photo: Ronald Hatcher

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Photo: SpennyTee

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by digital kid2007

Photo: digital kid2007

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by GG.BG

Photo: GG.BG

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by Chris Pollard

Photo: Chris Pollard

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by COTCH

Photo: COTCH

Fountain of Triton and Fountain of the Bees photo by Annie Veschambre

Photo: Annie Veschambre

Fountain of the Four Rivers

The iniquity of the people Piazza Navona
Rome, Rome 00186
Italy
The Fountain of the Four Rivers is in the centre of Piazza Navona. It was built between 1648 and 1651 from marble and travertine by Bernini. The fountain represents a large rock, which seems to emerge from the water on which an Egyptian obelisk from the Roman era stands. The rock is inhabited by allegorical animals and plants and decorated with the coat of arms of the Pamphili family. Four large statues represent rivers of the then-known areas of the world: the Danube for Europe, the Ganges for Asia, the Rio de la Plata for America, and the Nile for Africa. The last is covering its eyes so as not to see the iniquities taking place before it in the square, the commerce practised by merchants and tradesmen.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Piazza Barberini

The family square Piazza Barberini
Rome, Rome 00187
Italy
+39 6 48 8991 (Tourist Information) After Via del Tritone and Via Veneto were opened into Piazza Barberini, the square took on its present aspect. During the 17th c., it was named after the noble Barberini family that owned a large palace here with gardens that has now become the National Gallery of Ancient Art. The Barberini were also celebrated by two fountains by Bernini commissioned by Pope Urban VIII, the Triton fountain and the Bee fountain; the latter bears the family's coat of arms.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Piazza Navona

Waiting for Epiphany Piazza Navona
Rome 00186
Italy
During the Christmas season this square is packed with stalls selling toys, sweets and decorations for the Nativity scene or Christmas tree, making it a favourite spot for children. Its unusual shape recalls the time of Domitian, who built a stadium for equestrian displays here. The Fountain of the Rivers, with the obelisk, and the Fountain of the Moor, with the god of the sea, at the centre of the square, are both by Bernini.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Spanish Steps

Rome's most popular meeting place Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti
Piazza di Spagna
Rome, Rome 00187
Italy
The Spanish Steps were designed by Alessandro Specchi and Francesco de Sanctis. They connect Piazza di Spagna to the French church of Trinità dei Monti. In spring the steps are decorated with hundreds of coloured azaleas. Being a beautiful, central and traffic-prohibited spot, the steps are a permanent meeting place for the young and for tourists.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Trevi Fountain

Throw a coin in the fountain... Piazza di Trevi
Rome 00187
Italy
Tradition has it that throwing a coin over your left shoulder into the fountain guarantees a swift return to the world's most beautiful city. Anita Ekberg's dip in it was immortalized in Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita', and Italian actor Toto even sold it to an American, passing himself off as its owner. Earlier it was the setting for the award-winning "Three Coins in the Fountain" motion picture, ensuring its popularity worldwide. Designed by Nicola Salvi for Pope Clemente XII, it was completed in the second half of the 1700s. The statues in the centre represent Neptune supported by Tritons on either side while rococo-style Poli Palace provides the perfect backdrop.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Via Veneto

Rome
Italy
Via Veneto's biggest claim to fame was during the late 1950s when Fellini's La Dolce Vita was filmed here. Wonderful restaurants and elegant hotels are still located on this street. South of Via Veneto is Piazza Barberini, formerly home to the Flora Circus. Nowadays, visitors can enjoy a refreshing splash provided by the Baroque-style Triton Fountain. Barberini Palace is also nearby and overlooks the square.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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