Bernini's Early Showpieces

Bernini's Early Showpieces The Barcaccia, a stunning water fountain constructed at the base of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna, was Bernini's earliest water fountain. To this day, this spot is filled with Roman locals and tourists alike who enjoy conversation and each other's company. Bernini would without a doubt have been happy to know that people still flock to what has become one the city's most fashionable areas, that surrounding his amazing fountain. The master's very 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 gradually sinking into the Mediterranean Sea. The great 16th century flooding of the Tevere, which left the entire region inundated with water, was memorialized by the water fountain according to writings from the time. In 1665 Bernini traveled to France, in what was to be his only extended absence from Italy.

The Source of Modern Fountains

The Source of Modern Fountains Himself a learned man, Pope Nicholas V headed the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 till 1455 and was responsible for the translation of hundreds of age-old texts from their original Greek into Latin. It was important for him to embellish the city of Rome to make it worthy of being known as the capital of the Christian world. Reconstruction of the Acqua Vergine, a ruined Roman aqueduct which had carried clean drinking water into the city from eight miles away, began in 1453 at the behest of the Pope. A mostra, a monumental celebratory fountain built by ancient Romans to mark the point of arrival of an aqueduct, was a tradition which was revived by Nicholas V. The architect Leon Battista Alberti was directed by the Pope to build a wall fountain where we now find the Trevi Fountain. The aqueduct he had reconditioned included modifications and extensions which eventually enabled it to supply water to the Trevi Fountain as well as the famed baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona.