The fountains of Rome

One of the great things about Rome is its magnificent fountains, and they are everywhere. There are 280 fountains in Rome, and that's not counting the nasoni, the 2500 funny looking drinking fountains scattered across the city. Water, water, water everywhere. Rome's water system was one of the wonders of the world, and it still is. From the famous Trevi Fountain to the nasoni, water flows constantly, pure, fresh, and in most cases, drinkable.

Nasone drinking fountain

The fountain basins are clean and free of debris and the water sparkles through to the bottom. It comes from deep springs and is as cool and pure as mineral water. It still amazes me to find, all of a sudden, a nasone around a corner with continuously running water where I can put my palm to its spout and drink the spilling arched jet pushed through the small hole in the top, or at which I can fill my bottle and drink it on the go. Always cold and filtered, mineral-rich and delicious.

Whenever I stroll down the cobblestoned streets of the Eternal City and come upon its fontane, I always wonder, how have all these majestic fountains been working over time without a motor to pump the water? Looking back to my art history notes with Mr. Ceen, my favorite high school teacher, I am reminded how ancient Rome received (and still does) its water––about 38 million gallons a day––through a mighty system of aqueducts.

Fontana di Piazza del Popolo, designed by Valadier in 1816-20

All water flowed to the city by gravity, but because it was arriving from several surrounding hills, it could be stored in a network of large cisterns very similar in concept to today's water towers (the main difference is that cisterns are filled from the top). Water flowed from the cisterns either through pipes to individual homes or to public distribution points.

Fontane served both decorative and functional purposes, since people could bring their anforas (and later in history, their demijohns) to the fountain to collect water. The cisterns provided the height needed to generate water pressure for the fountains to spray the way they still do to this day. Some fountains were the actual city "end" of a certain acqueduct, like for example those of the Acqua Virgo, Acqua Marcia or Acqua Felix sources.

Pliny the Elder once wrote: "If anyone will consider the abundance of Rome's public supply of water, for baths, cisterns, ditches, houses, gardens, villas; and take into account the distance over which it travels, the arches reared, the mountains pierced, the valleys spanned - one will admit that there never was anything more marvelous in the whole world."

I can't list all 280 here, but a few I must mention, and they are:

Fontana di Santa Maria in Trastevere (4-8th century) one of the oldest in Rome


Fontana dei Libri (fountain of the books), located on via Staderari, between Piazza della Rotonda (where the Pantheon sits) and Piazza Navona on the side of the Chiesa di Sant'Eustacchio

Fontana delle Tartarughe (Tortoise Fountain)

built by Taddeo Landini and Giacomo della Porta, located in Piazza Mattei

Fontana della Barcaccia (the leaking boat)

by P. Bernini, father of GianLorenzo Bernini, located at the foot of the Spanish Steps

Fontana del Tritone (1642-43)

by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, located in Piazza Barberini

Fontana delle Naiadi (nymphs) (1900)

very controversial at the time because of the cavorting and bodacious naked nymphs. This fountain is located in Piazza della Repubblica, not far from Termini train station

Fontana degli Artisti (fountain of the artists),

Via Margutta - where all the prettiest art galleries are

Fontana di Nettuno (Neptune) (1574),

built by Giacomo della Porta and located at the northern end of Piazza Navona

Fontana dei Fiumi (fountain of the rivers) (1648-51)

by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the centerpiece in Piazza Navona. It portrays the 4 major rivers and part of an endless dispute with Borromini who built the church facing it

Fontana di Piazza Farnese (1626)

by Girolamo Rainaldi, located in Piazza Farnese. There are 2 giant fountains in this piazza of the Palazzo Farnese - which is now the French Embassy - each donning the fleur de lys

Fountain of St. Peter's Square

stands in the breathtaking piazza facing the Basilica. It is part of a matched pair, one by Maderno (1614) and the other, on the northern side of the embracing square is by Bernini and added later

Fontana del Mosè (Moses fountain) (1587)

commemorates the opening of the Acqua Felice aqueduct. Also known Fontana dell'Acqua Felice, built during the reign of Pope Sixtus V

Fontana di Piazza delle Cinque Scole

built by Giacomo della Porta. The fountain and piazza are named after the five rabbinical schools located in the old Roman Jewish Quarter

Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain) (1732-62) 

by Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Parini, commemorates the completion of the Acqua Vergine acqueduct begun in 19BC. This is the world-famous fountain where legend has it, if you toss coins over your shoulder into its waters, you are sure to return to Rome one day. It is built on the rear end of Palazzo Poli. The basin was built with the cash collected from taxes levied on wine!

Fontana del Pantheon (1575)

designed by Giacomo della Porta and located in front of the most gorgeous, still standing, entirely roofed Roman temple

Le Quattro Fontane, ([one of] the four fountains) (1593),

located at the Quirinale crossroads

Acqua Paola (more often referred to as Fontanone, or Fontana di Ponte Sisto

after the bridge near where it is located above Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere

Fontana delle Api (fountain of the bees) (1641)

by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in Via Veneto. It portrays the Borghese family emblem of the 3 bees on an open clam valve.

♥

My favorite fountain is in the Villa Borghese gardens. It is nestled in a secluded area and it has a twin on the opposite side of the park. It bubbles quietly in the shady calm of its hiding place. The fountain area is entirely surrounded by a marble wall, an oval bench that runs around the fountain. It is a pleasant place to read, relax, meditate. A flute player often comes here to practice. I used to come here to nurse MrE during his first weeks of life.

The light here is beautiful. And the sound of the rippling rivulets cascading from the gurgling top to the basin make listening a zen experience. Every Sunday I take my son there. It has become somewhat of a tradition. We explore the park, play soccer with a pinecone, crack open pine nuts with a stone, picking out its precious bounty eating them meticulously, and then we sit at the oval fountain in silence for a few minutes. Mr E hurls pebbles in the basin, while I watch him, smiling.