The Beginnings of Modern Outdoor Wall Fountains

The Beginnings of Modern Outdoor Wall Fountains The translation of hundreds of classic Greek documents into Latin was commissioned by the scholarly Pope Nicholas V who ruled the Church in Rome from 1397 till 1455. He undertook the beautification of Rome to make it into the worthy seat of the Christian world. Beginning in 1453, the ruined ancient Roman aqueduct known as the Aqua Vergine which had brought clean drinking water into the city from eight miles away, underwent restoration at the bidding of the Pope. Building a mostra, an imposing commemorative fountain built by ancient Romans to memorialize the arrival point of an aqueduct, was a custom revived by Nicholas V. The architect Leon Battista Alberti was directed by the Pope to construct a wall fountain where we now find the Trevi Fountain. Modifications and extensions, included in the restored aqueduct, eventually supplied the Trevi Fountain and the well-known baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona with the necessary water supply.

Bernini's Earliest Showpieces

Bernini's Earliest Showpieces Bernini's earliest fountain, named Barcaccia, is a breath taking work of art found at the foot of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna.

This area continues to be filled with Roman locals and tourists who like to exchanging gossip or going over the day's news. The streets neighboring his fountain have come to be one of the city’s most fashionable gathering places, something which would certainly have pleased Bernini himself. The master's first fountain of his career was built at around 1630 at the behest of Pope Urbano VIII. Depicted in the fountain's design is a great ship slowly sinking into the Mediterranean Sea. The great flooding of the Tevere that blanketed the whole region with water in the 16th was commemorated by this momentous fountain as recorded by documents dating back to this time. In 1665, France was graced by Bernini's one-and-only lengthy voyage outside of Italy.