The Trevi Fountain
Trevi Fountain at night.
The fountain of Trevi, filled with coins, from another perspective.
The 'Trevi Fountain' () is the largest — standing 25.9 meters (85 feet) high and 19.8 meters (65 feet) wide — and most ambitious of the
Baroque fountains of
Rome. It is located in the
rione of
Trevi.
Pre-1629 history of the aqueduct and the fountain site
The fountain at the juncture of three roads (''tre vie'') marks the terminal point of the
Aqua Virgo (), one of the ancient
aqueducts that supplied water to Rome. In 19 BC, supposedly with the help of a virgin, Roman technicians located a source of pure water some 13 km (8 miles) from the city. (This scene is presented on the present fountain's facade). However, the eventual indirect route of the aqueduct made its length some 22 km (14 miles). This ''Aqua Virgo'' led the water into the Baths of
Agrippa. It served Rome for more than four hundred years. The "coup de grace" for the urban life of late classical Rome came when the
Goth besiegers in 537/38 broke the aqueducts. Medieval Romans were reduced to drawing water from polluted wells and the
Tiber River, which was also used as a sewer.
The Roman custom of building a handsome fountain at the endpoint of an aqueduct that brought water to Rome was revived in the fifteenth century, with the
Renaissance. In 1453,
Pope Nicholas V finished mending the Acqua Vergine aqueduct and built a simple basin, designed by the humanist architect
Leon Battista Alberti, to herald the water's arrival.
The present fountain
Commission, construction and design
In 1629
Pope Urban VIII, finding the earlier fountain insufficiently dramatic, asked
Bernini to sketch possible renovations, but when the Pope died the project was abandoned. Bernini's lasting contribution was to resite the fountain from the other side of the square to face the
Quirinal Palace (so the Pope could look down and enjoy it). Though Bernini's project was torn down for Salvi's fountain, there are many Bernini touches in the fountain as it was built. An early, striking and influential model by
Pietro da Cortona also exists.
Competitions had become the rage during the
Baroque era to design buildings, fountains, and even the
Spanish Steps. In 1730
Pope Clement XII organized a contest in which
Nicola Salvi initially lost to
Alessandro Galilei — but due to the outcry in Rome over the fact that a Florentine won, Salvi was awarded the commission anyway.
[ Rome in the Age of Enlightenment: the Post-Tridentine syndrome and the ancien regime, , Hanns, Gross, Cambridge University Press, , ISBN 0521372119 ] Work began in 1732, and the fountain was completed in 1762, long after Clement's death, when
Pietro Bracci's '
Neptune' was set in the central niche.
Salvi died in 1751, with his work half-finished, but before he went he made sure a stubborn barber's unsightly sign would not spoil the ensemble, hiding it behind a sculpted vase. The Trevi Fountain was finished in 1762 by
Giuseppe Pannini, who substituted the present bland allegories for planned sculptures of
Agrippa and "Trivia", the Roman virgin.
Restoration
The fountain was refurbished in 1998; the stonework was scrubbed and the fountain provided with recirculating pumps.
Iconography
The backdrop for the fountain is the
Palazzo Poli, given a new facade with a
giant order of
Corinthian pilasters that link the two main stories. ''Taming of the waters'' is the theme of the gigantic scheme that tumbles forward, mixing water and rockwork, and filling the small square.
Tritons guide Neptune's shell chariot, taming seahorses (
hippocamps).
In the center is superimposed a robustly modelled
triumphal arch. The center niche or
exedra framing
Neptune has free-standing columns for maximal light-and-shade. In the niches flanking Neptune, ''Abundance'' spills water from her urn and ''Salubrity'' holds a cup from which a snake drinks. Above,
bas reliefs illustrate the Roman origin of the aqueducts.
The tritons and horses provide symmetrical balance, with the maximum contrast in their mood and poses (by 1730, the
rococo is already in full bloom in
France and
Germany).
Coin throwing
A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. Among those who are unaware that the "three coins" of ''
Three Coins in the Fountain'' were thrown by three different individuals, a reported current interpretation is that two coins will ensure a marriage will occur soon, while three coins leads to a divorce. A reported current version of this legend is that it is lucky to throw three coins with one's right hand over one's left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain.
Approximately 3,000 Euros are thrown into the fountain each day and are collected at night. The money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy. However, there are regular attempts to steal coins from the fountain, including some using a magnetized pole.
[1]
Panorama of the Trevi Fountain
Popular culture
A slightly scaled-down replica of the Trevi Fountain can be found outside the
Forum Shops at
Caesar's Palace,
Las Vegas, Nevada.
Swimming in the fountain
Although it is illegal to swim in the fountain, a 40-year-old
[2] tourist known only as Roberta said to be from Milan did just that on
22 April 2007, saying "I was hot. The water belongs to everyone." The poor-quality photographs of her swim taken by a tourist quickly found their way into most
[3] Italian media and international news and websites as well.
Classical music
One of Resphigi's ''
Fontane di Roma''.
Film
★ A scene in the 1953 comedy ''
Roman Holiday'' with
Gregory Peck,
Audrey Hepburn, and
Eddie Albert.
★ ''
Three Coins in the Fountain''.
★ A scene of drenching
Anita Ekberg in
Federico Fellini's ''
La dolce vita''.
★ Several scenes in ''
The Lizzie McGuire Movie''.
★ Several scenes in ''
Sabrina Goes to Rome''.
★ A few scenes in the Chinese series ''
Triumph in the Skies''
★ A scene in the '
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen' Movie ''
When in Rome''.
★ A scene in the 2005 film ''
Elsa y Fred'' where the same scene in La Dolce Vita is remade because of the title character's lifelong wish.
References
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6188052.stm BBC News. ''Trevi coins to fund food for poor.''
2. http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2007-04-23T122614Z_01_L23126062_RTRUKOC_0_US-ITALY-FOUNTAIN.xml&src=rss ''Reuters report of Milan tourist swimming in Trevi fountain''
3. http://sitesearch.corriere.it/gallery/Cronache/vuoto.shtml?2007/04_Aprile/nudista/1&1. ''The Milanese tourist Roberta took an unauthorised dip into the Trevi fountain''
External links
★
Aerial view of Trevi Fountain. The fountain is the blue rounded rectangle in the center of the photo, just west of the
Quirinal Palace.
★
Trevi Fountain Virtual 360° panorama and photo gallery.
★
Trevi Fountain 360° iPIX panorama
★
Trevi Fountain Image gallery
★
Trevi Fountain Map
★
Engravings of the fountain's more modest predecessor.
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