Trevi Fountain

The historian Pliny had included in the wonders of the ancient world, the acqueducts of Rome, known as Regina Aquarum, the Queen of Waters. In fact Rome had the most wonderful monumental fountains. During the Empire, when Rome had about one and a half million inhabitants, the city was supplied with water by fourteen large acqueducts. At the fall of the Empire, Rome was besieged and sacked, and to cut the water supply the acqueducts were all destroyed or seriously damaged, and all through the middle ages the Romans suffered from shortage of water. During the Renaissance the Popes restored some of the acqueducts, and, it was mainly to celebrate the return of water that the famous monumental fountains were built; again Rome is the city of fountains. The most celebrated of them, at least the most renowned, from pictures, is the fountain of Trevi. The fountain we see now was completed in 1762 and was designed by Nicola Salvi.

It took thirty years to build and construction was not begun until two centuries after plans had been made for this big fountain. This very spectacular fountain is also the last important monumental work in Rome in the Baroque style. It represents the triumph of Oceanus riding through a triumphal arch on a seashell pulled by tritons and two seahorses, one tamed and one untamed, to symbolise calm and rough waters. The four woman's figures up above represent the seasons of the year. The water supplying this fountain is called the Virgin Water. On one of the bas reliefs on the fountain, you read the legend of the Roman maiden showing the source of this spring to a group of thirsty Roman soldiers coming from battle.

The first Trevi acqueduct was built under Augustus Caesar by Consul Agrippa, the same who built the first Pantheon. Tradition goes that before you leave Rome, you should cast a coin into this fountain to ensure your return. Trevi fountain is very pretty at night when it is floodlit, and it is also very centrally located, only two blocks from Via del Corso and one block from Via del Tritone.

Continuing from the Trevi Fountain to Piazza Venezia, you cross Via del Corso, which is the main street of Rome. In all Italian cities and towns there is a via del Corso, the central street where they used to hold, in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the Corse (horse races). On Via del Corso you still see several old patrician palaces, most of them made into banks or office buildings. Before you enter Piazza Venezia, the palace next to the last on your right, is the Doria Palace, still privately owned by that family, the palace being known as the most magnificent private palace in Europe. There is also a most interesting private art collection which can be visited on certain days. The pearl of the collection is the famous portrait of the Parnphilij Pope, Innocent X, by Velasquez.

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