Trevi Water Fountain

The Trevi Water Fountain is the largest Baroque fountain in Rome, Italy. It is a fountain in the Trevi rione which stands at 25.9 meters high and 19.8 meters wide. The fountain is located at the junction of the three roads marking the modern Acqua Vergine. It said that the Acqua Vergine was the revivified Aqua Virgo. Aqua Virgo was one of the ancient aqueducts that supplied to water to ancient Rome. According to the stories presented on the present fountain’s facade, it was in 19 BC that the Roman technicians located a source of pure water. It was told that the water was located with the help of a virgin. The water source that served Rome for more than four hundred years was found some 13 kilometers from the city. Later on the eventual indirect route of the aqueduct made it longer to 22 kilometers where the Aqua Virgo led the water into the Baths of Agrippa. Unfortunately, the medieval Romans were reduced to drawing water from polluted wells and the Tiber River, which was also used as a sewer when the Goth besiegers broke the aqueducts.

In 1453, Pope Nicholas V finished mending the Acqua Vergine aqueduct and built a simple basin for the fountain. The basin was designed by the humanist architect Leon Battista Alberti to herald the water's arrival. The restoration was in response the Roman custom of building a handsome fountain at the endpoint of an aqueduct that brought water to Rome.

Nicola Salvi was awarded the commission to work at the fountain in 1732 during the time when competitions had become the rage to design buildings, water fountains, and even the Spanish steps. Salvi was unable to finish his work because he died in 1751. But he made sure that a stubborn barber's unsightly sign would not ruin the fountain’s design. He hid it behind a sculpted vase which the Romans called the asso di coppe or the "Ace of Cups". The fountain was completed in 1762 when Pietro Bracci’s Oceanus (the god of all water) was set in the central niche. It was Giuseppe Panini who completed the fountain. He was the one who substituted the present allegories for planned sculpture of Agrippa and Trivia, the Roman virgin which can be found in the fountain’s façade.

The Trevi fountain was refurbished in 1998. The stonework was scrubbed and recirculating pumps were added to the water fountain.

Smaller fountains are not complicated to install. You can hang them wherever you want them like a picture frame.

According to the legend, visitors who throw coins into the outdoor water fountain will find themselves back in Rome. At the present moment, it has reached an approximate of 3,000 Euros have been thrown into the fountain each day. The money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome’s needy in spite of attempts to steal coins from the fountain.

The Trevi fountain is in the beauteous Palazzo Poli with a giant order of Corinthian pilasters that link the two main stories. A gigantic scheme tumbles forward mixing water and rock work. It also fills the small square with water. There is also the presence of Tritons which guide the shell chariot ridden by Oceanus himself taming the seahorses or hippocamps. In the center is the Oceanus has free standing columns for maximum light and shade. Flanking the center niche is Abundance which spills water from her urn and Salubrity who holds a cup from which a snake drinks. The tritons and horses provide symmetrical balance with the maximum contrast in their mood and poses. In addition, the sculptural relief in which the projection from the surrounding surface is slight and no part of the modeled form is undercut, the bas-reliefs, illustrate the Roman origin of the aqueducts.