![]() Trevi Fountain is home to lots and lots of coins - visitors observe a tradition of throwing change into the fountain, hoping for good luck and the promise of a return to Rome. If you’ve seen the movie, you won’t be surprised to hear that dancing in the fountain, or entering it in any way, is illegal.Īnd as for drinking: yes, these fountains were once the source for public drinking water, but for your own sake, wait for one of Rome’s other great works of water infrastructure, the nasoni – little drinking fountains located all over town. ![]() Like the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain owes some of its fame to a film – in this case, La Dolce Vita by Federico Fellini (see the video above). Overall, the story is of the power of Rome to tame the forces of nature and bring them to the benefit of the city’s people.Īs you see it, the fountain dates from 1762, and it started as a showpiece for the Renaissance project of rebuilding the aqueducts.īut it was such a massive endeavor that it took more than a century, plus many financiers and designers, to make it happen.Īnd it takes steady renovations to keep it looking sharp – as of the latest one in 2015, the fountain is lit at night. On the right is Health, who’s holding a bowl with a snake drinking from it – snakes were ancient symbols of medicine. The statue on the left of Oceanus represents Abundance – she has a cornucopia full of fruit, and on the ground beside her is an urn spilling water. She’s the Virgo, the young woman, in Aqua Virgo – the legend is that when Roman surveyors looked for a source of water, a young woman led them to a spring, and the resulting aqueduct was named for her. And the design of the fountain tells that story.Ībove the statues, on either side, you can see reliefs – the one on the left is a man with a scroll, showing plans for the aqueducts, and on the right, a woman points out a flow of freshwater to a group of men. The fountain is the end of the Acqua Vergine aqueduct, the recreation of the ancient Aqua Virgo aqueduct. Greco-Roman mythology tells that horses were the creation of the god of the ocean. ![]() And the wild creature each of them is struggling with is called a hippocampus, a horse mixed with a fish. The one on the right is blowing a shell to announce their arrival. Below him, you can see his retinue of tritons, men mixed with fish. The main statue in the fountain depicts the god Oceanus. This is a Vatican property – you can tell from the yellow flag on the front – and for a long time, it was the home of a church division responsible for missionary work and evangelism. The building beyond the column is the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide – the Palace of the Propagation of the Faith. Original sin is visible in the monument in the form of the snake Mary is stepping on.īelow her are the authors of the four Biblical gospels, and still further down are four prophets said to have foretold her birth, with reliefs depicting four phases of her story below them.ĭepending on when you’re here, there’s a small chance you’ll see a wreath of flowers on the statue.ĭecember 8th is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception each year on that day, the Pope visits this spot along with the head of the fire department, which originally erected the column, and they leave the wreath behind. Mary, the mother of Jesus, occupies a central place in Catholic belief.Īnd this statue of her was built in 1857 to commemorate the Pope’s recent declaration of the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception: the idea that Mary, uniquely among human beings, was born without original sin. The statue on top of the column is a bronze Virgin Mary.
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