Italian fountains at a glance
Trevi Fountain: 1762, Nicola Salvi. Acqua Vergine terminus. Coins collected daily ~€1.4 million/year for charity | Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi: 1651, Bernini. Piazza Navona. Funded by bread tax | Fontana del Moro: 1575/1653, Piazza Navona. Bernini figure added 1653 | Fontana del Nettuno Bologna: 1566, Giambologna. The most important Renaissance fountain outside Rome | Rome nasone: Approximately 280 small street drinking fountains, free
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The Trevi Fountain, the coin tradition, the water supply and the film myth
The Fontana di Trevi (Piazza di Trevi, Rome, designed 1732 by Nicola Salvi in competition, completed 1762) is the most visited tourist site in Rome after the Colosseum and the Vatican, the Piazza di Trevi receives approximately 20,000 visitors per hour at peak times in summer. The fountain occupies the entire rear wall of the Palazzo Poli and is fed by the Acqua Vergine (the only ancient Roman aqueduct that has delivered uninterrupted water from antiquity to the present day, the spring source at Salone di Palestrina, 18 km east of Rome, was found by Agrippa's soldiers in 19 BC. The original aqueduct was used until the 3rd century AD. Restored by Pope Nicholas V in 1453, it has supplied the Trevi and the northern Rome fountain circuit ever since). The specific Trevi hydraulics: the Acqua Vergine pressure at the Trevi terminal is approximately 7.5 bars, sufficient to project the water over 5 metres from the central niche. The coin tradition: the specific custom of throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain to guarantee a return to Rome wasn't an ancient tradition, it was popularised by the 1954 American film Three Coins in the Fountain (directed by Jean Negulesco, with the title song by Jule Styne). The earlier tradition of drinking the Trevi water to guarantee return predates the film. The coins collected annually: approximately €1.4 million per year (collected nightly by the Caritas charity), distributed to Rome social programs. Rome guide
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See availability & prices →Compare tours on Viator →We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.Bernini's fountains, the political art of water
Bernini designed or redesigned at least seven Roman fountains, the most significant are the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Four Rivers Fountain, 1651, Piazza Navona), the Fontana del Moro (central figure added 1653, Piazza Navona south end), the Fontana del Tritone (Piazza Barberini, 1643, the triton figure sitting on a shell, blowing water from a conch, one of the most elegant Baroque sculptural compositions in Rome), and the Fontana dell'Ape (Bee Fountain, Via Veneto, 1644, a small papal fountain with the Barberini family bees). The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi: the four river gods (the Nile, the Danube, the Ganges, and the Río de la Plata, the four rivers representing the four known continents) are dramatically posed around the base of an Egyptian obelisk (the Circus of Maxentius obelisk, brought to Piazza Navona by Innocent X). The specific political program: the obelisk is topped by the Pamphilj dove (Innocent X's family emblem), placing the Pamphilj symbol above the representation of the entire world. The specific anecdote about Borromini and Bernini: the church of Sant'Agnese (on the west side of the piazza, designed by Borromini, Bernini's rival) was being constructed simultaneously with the fountain. The Nile god figure has his face covered with his hand (supposedly because Bernini was mocking Borromini's church as too ugly to look at). This is a romantic anecdote, the Nile figure was veiled because the source of the Nile was unknown at the time.
What is the Trevi Fountain?
The Fontana di Trevi (Rome, designed 1732, completed 1762) is the most famous fountain in the world, the terminal monument of the Acqua Vergine aqueduct (the only ancient Roman aqueduct still delivering water from its original source, found in 19 BC). The coin tradition (throwing a coin to guarantee return to Rome) was popularised by the 1954 film Three Coins in the Fountain, not by ancient custom. Approximately €1.4 million in coins is collected annually and given to the Caritas charity. The fountain receives approximately 20,000 visitors per hour at peak summer times. Best visited at 6-7am.
Who designed the Trevi Fountain?
The Trevi Fountain was designed by Nicola Salvi, an architect who won the 1732 competition called by Pope Clement XII. Salvi died in 1751 before completion. The fountain was finished by Giuseppe Pannini in 1762 under Pope Clement XIII. The central figure (Neptune in the chariot pulled by sea horses) was sculpted by Pietro Bracci. The 26-metre-high and 49-metre-wide fountain uses the entire rear wall of the Palazzo Poli as its backdrop, the palazzo provides the theatrical stage-set effect rather than standing as a freestanding sculptural monument. Previous designs for the Trevi Fountain site were proposed by Bernini and by Gian Lorenzo's student Carlo Fontana. Salvi's design won over both earlier proposals.
What is the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi?
The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Four Rivers Fountain, Piazza Navona Rome, 1651) was commissioned by Pope Innocent X (Pamphilj family) and designed by Bernini. The four colossal river-god figures represent: the Nile (veiled, because the Nile's source was unknown at the time). The Ganges (holding a long oar symbolising navigability). The Danube (turning upward to admire the obelisk above). And the Río de la Plata (shielding his eyes, conventionally explained as shock at Borromini's adjacent church Sant'Agnese, though this anecdote post-dates the fountain). The Egyptian obelisk is topped by the Pamphilj dove. The fountain was funded by a bread tax imposed by Innocent X, unpopular at the time but creating the most impressive Baroque fountain in Rome.
Why does Rome have so many fountains?
Rome's 2,000+ fountains derive from two specific factors: the ancient aqueduct technology (the Roman Empire built nine major aqueducts supplying approximately 1.1 billion liters per day to the ancient city, more water per capita than any modern city. The papal restoration program progressively returned this capacity from the 15th century onward) and the Baroque papal political program (each pope commissioned fountains at the terminus of the aqueduct he restored, at his family piazza, and at key urban nodal points, as competitive dynastic branding). The Acqua Vergine (restored 1453) feeds the Trevi and northern zone. The Acqua Felice (restored 1587, Sixtus V) feeds the eastern zone. The Acqua Paola (restored 1612, Paul V Borghese) feeds the Trastevere and Gianicolo.
What is the nasone drinking fountain in Rome?
The nasone (plural nasoni, big noses, named for the curved spout shape) are small cast-iron street drinking fountains distributed across Rome, with approximately 280 still operational. The water is the same as the Acqua Vergine or Acqua Felice aqueduct supply used for the Trevi and other decorative fountains, continuously flowing, cold, and of high quality. The nasone delivers a continuous slow stream. You drink by putting your finger over the lower spout end, which diverts water upward through a small hole in the top for drinking. The nasone is the most specifically Roman daily ritual: every Roman stops at the nasone several times per day. They are free, always flowing, and the best quality drinking water in the city. Covering the lower spout creates the drinking fountain effect with a built-in learning curve for non-Romans.
Planning a Rome fountains and piazze circuit?
Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi Piazza Navona + Trevi Fountain 6am + Fontana del Tritone + nasone drinking fountain circuit.
Plan my trip →The Bologna Fountain of Neptune, the Renaissance censorship problem
The Fontana del Nettuno in Bologna (1566, sculptor Giambologna, born Jean Boulogne in Douai, Flanders, the most important sculptor in Italy between Michelangelo and Bernini) is the most important Renaissance fountain outside Rome. The specific Bologna Neptune figure: a massive bronze Neptune standing on a pedestal, right arm raised with authoritative gesture, the four female figures at the base shooting water from their compressed breasts (the specific breast-squirt nymph figure, a Renaissance fountain standard that caused significant church objection at the time). The church censorship problem: Cardinal Paleotti (Bologna's reforming post-Tridentine bishop) objected to the naked nymph figures as indecent. Giambologna's solution: he proposed making the central Neptune figure's genitals in the exact form of a map of the Adriatic, so that from the church side the genitals weren't visible as such. The Adriatic detail is documented in sources but difficult to verify in the existing bronze, it is the specific art-historical story that students of Giambologna have discussed for 450 years.
The Trevi Fountain and cinema: the Trevi Fountain appears in approximately 80 Italian and international films from the 1950s onward. The specific cinematic Trevi moments: the Anita Ekberg wading scene in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) is the most culturally referenced single Trevi Fountain film moment. Ekberg in the black evening dress standing in the fountain while Marcello Mastroianni circles at the edge. The scene was filmed over 7 nights in late November 1959, with a water temperature the Ekberg later described as unbearably cold. The Three Coins in the Fountain (1954, Jean Negulesco), the film that established the modern coin-throwing tradition. Both films changed the way the Trevi Fountain was perceived by the global tourism market in ways that no amount of publicity could achieve.
What is the Fontana dell'Acqua Paola in Rome?
The Fontana dell'Acqua Paola (the Fontanone, Janiculum Hill, Rome, 1612) is the largest Baroque fountain in Rome after the Trevi, built by Paul V Borghese (who commissioned it to mark the restoration of the Acqua Paola aqueduct, which brought water to the right bank of the Tiber and Trastevere). The specific Acqua Paola aqueduct: the original Aqua Traiana, built by Emperor Trajan in 109 AD from Lake Bracciano (36 km north of Rome) to supply the right bank of the Tiber. Destroyed in the Gothic Wars. Restored by Paul V in 1612. The fountain uses three marble arches from the old St. Peter's Basilica (demolished to build the current St. Peter's under Bramante from 1506) as the architectural frame for the water display. The Fontanone appears in the Paolo Sorrentino film The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza, 2013) and gives the specific Janiculum Hill visit its cinematic dimension.
What are the Roma nasone drinking fountains?
The nasone (the small cast-iron street drinking fountains, approximately 280 still operational in Rome) are one of the most specifically functional and most specifically Roman elements of the city's public infrastructure. They deliver a continuous slow stream of Acqua Vergine or Acqua Felice water, the same aqueduct water used for the Trevi Fountain, at no cost. The name: nasone (big nose) refers to the curved downward spout that resembles a large nose. The drinking technique: cover the lower spout hole with your finger to divert the water upward through a small hole in the top, creating a drinking stream. The water is cold, of high quality, and continuous 24 hours a day. The nasone were introduced in 1874 by the Comune di Roma as part of the post-unification public water access program. The original 1874 cast-iron design is still the standard.
