Bernini’s Very First Italian Water Fountains

Bernini’s Very First Italian Water Fountains The Barcaccia, Bernini's first fountain, is a magnificent chef d'oeuvre built at the foot of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. Roman locals and site seers who enjoy conversation as well as being the company of others still go to this spot. Bernini would without a doubt have been happy to know that people still flock to what has become one the city's trendiest areas, that around his amazing fountain. In about 1630, the great artist built the very first fountain of his career at the behest of Pope Ubano VIII. People can now see the fountain as a depiction of a great ship gradually sinking into the Mediterranean. According to 16th century texts, a great flood of the Tevere covered the entire area in water, an event which was memorialized by the eye-catching fountain. Absenting himself from Italy only once in his life for a lengthy time period, in 1665 Bernini voyaged to France.

A Brief History of the First Water Features

A Brief History of the First Water Features Villages and communities relied on working water fountains to channel water for cooking, bathing, and cleaning from nearby sources like lakes, channels, or creeks. To make water flow through a fountain until the later part of the 1800’s, and generate a jet of water, required gravity and a water source such as a spring or reservoir, located higher than the fountain. The splendor and spectacle of fountains make them ideal for traditional monuments. If you saw the earliest fountains, you probably would not recognize them as fountains. Simple stone basins created from nearby rock were the first fountains, used for spiritual functions and drinking water. The oldest stone basins are believed to be from around 2000 B.C.. Gravity was the power source that operated the earliest water fountains. The location of the fountains was influenced by the water source, which is why you’ll normally find them along aqueducts, canals, or rivers. Fountains with ornate decoration began to show up in Rome in about 6 B.C., normally gods and creatures, made with natural stone or copper-base alloy. The people of Rome had an elaborate system of aqueducts that supplied the water for the many fountains that were situated throughout the urban center.