The Italians, and specifically the citizens of Rome, came through history
and by natural inheritance to delight in water fountains; and there is no
country with more public fountains, either of ancient or modern
construction. They collectively form one of the most distinguishing features
of Italy, and memories of them dwell long among the impressions of
tourists and locals alike. "What fascinating visions," says a one
writer, perhaps entrances by peeking through slender columns against a
background of intricately interwoven design, where the water, after
escaping from the jets, flows with gentle lapses along conduits of marble
through the
water fountains.
The very words 'Italian Fountains' suggests majesty and grandeur to the
imagination, and these magnificent waterworks do not disappoint, unrolling
before the eye in plazas and squares throughout the city of Rome
The Most Famous of the Roman Fountains: The Trevi
Fountain
The Trevi fountain is – without a doubt – the most famous of
all the Roman fountains. In fact there have been amendments and revisions
made to the fountains in this vicinity over the centuries by such notable
fountain and sculpture designers as Leon Batista, the architect, Pope Sixtus
IV and Pope Pius V. It is worth noting that original versions of the
fountain did not stand in exactly the same spot as the the modern
Fountain
of Trevi does now.
A well rehashed legend holds that when visiting the Trevi Fountain, if one
throws a coin into the fountain, they are guaranteed a return to Rome. Other
versions of the legend are that two identical coins thrown will ensure a
wedding, and three identical coins will lead to a divorce or breakup.
Another version of this tale is that it brings good luck if one throws
three coins with one's right hand over one's left shoulder into the rushing
waters of the Trevi Fountain. Approximately $3600 is thrown into the Trevi
Fountain every single day and the coins are collected at night, and used to
subsidize a market for Rome's poor and homeless.
The most famous of the Italian fountain designers was Gian
Bernini.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was born in Napoli in 1598, and
died in Rome in 1680. His prize fountain was the majestic composition known
as the four rivers fountain, from which rises a pyramid, seated on a group
of cunningly handled rocks, and four gods, which represent the rivers of
the four quarters of the globe. Bernini is also responsible for a basic but
very distinguished fountain behind the Pitti Palace in Florence, which
adorns one end of the amphitheater used for public festivities, and beyond
can be seen the rising terraces of the Boboli Gardens. Another example of
Bernini's expertise is the exquisitely-graceful fountain in the courtyard
of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, originally designed by Vasari by
finished by Bernini; it features a beautiful little figure of the cupid
holding a
dolphin which
is common to one of Bernini's assistants, Verrocchio. This figure was not
originally made for the fountain; but when the Palazzo Vecchio was
renovated for the wedding of Joanna of Austria and Franceso dei Medici, the
statue was taken from the garden of Lorenzo the Magnificent, which it then
adorned, and placed here.
