The Trevi Fountain (Italian:
Fontana di Trevi) 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.
The fountain at the juncture
of three roads (tre vie) marks
the terminal point of the
"modern" Acqua Vergine,
the revivified Aqua Virgo,
one of the ancient aqueducts
that supplied water to ancient
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.
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.
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.
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