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Water itinerary in Rome
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Undoubtedly there is no city in the world that has more waters and
fountains than Rome. It has been thus since ancient times, when 11
aqueducts supplied thousands and thousands of litres of water to the
city each day, feeding the countless fountains and magnificent baths.
The sacking of the Goths, resulting in the cutting of the aqueducts,
ended this richness, and only at the end of the 16th century did the
popes tackle the water supply problem adequately. Since then Rome was
adorned with dozens of monumental fountains celebrating the pontiffs'
munificence, often flanked by drinking troughs and public basins for
practical uses. And today still, while we admire these masterpieces, we
refresh ourselves by drinking the excellent water running from the
typical drinking-water fountains affectionately called "nasoni" - big
noses - because of the curious shape of the curved spout.
The theatrical Fountain of the Naiads, one of the most beautiful
fountains of modern Rome, is the work of sculptor Mario Rutelli, who
created it in 1901 to adorn Piazza della Repubblica, originally
called Piazza Esedra.
The old name derives from the fact that the square was created, in the
late 1900s, following the curved line of the large exedra of the
majestic Baths of Diocletian, recently restructured and reopened to the
public. Between the two semicircular porticoed buildings opens Via
Nazionale, an important main street and lively commercial zone. At
no. 194 is the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, the site of interesting
exhibitions.
The roof garden is one of the most popular places in Rome for short
snacks, lunches, or mundane and cultural events.
The four bronze nymphs placed around the basin of the Fountain of the
Naiads were the subject of fierce controversy, which led to the raising
of a fence to prevent the sight of the female figures, considered too
sensual because of the manner in which they were embracing the sea
monsters. The fence was removed by popular acclaim, but the criticism
did not end, so the sculptor created the central group which, depicting
three tritons, a dolphin and an octopus, was quickly christened "mixed
fish fry". The group was transferred to Piazza Vittorio and replaced
with the figure of Glaucus Fighting a Triton.
For those with a sweet tooth a stop at the Dagnino bar-pastry shop,
Via V. Emanuele Orlando 75, is a must. It offers the best Sicilian
specialities, from cannoli to marzipan fruit. Those, on the other hand,
in search of guidebooks or other books can go to Feltrinelli
International, Via V. Emanuele Orlando 84, or Mel Book Store, Via
Nazionale 255.
Often the creation of aqueducts and fountains was dictated, more than by
the desire to meet the population's needs, by the desire to satisfy
private interests of the popes. This is the case of the Fountain of
Moses in Piazza San Bernardo, which forms the "display", i.e. the
terminal part of the Felice aqueduct, thus named after Pope
Sixtus V, Felice Peretti, who restored the ancient Alessandrino
aqueduct.
This was done mainly to serve the huge villa, which no longer exists,
that the pope had built starting in 1585 and which occupied the entire
Termini Station area as far as the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The
figure of Moses as he makes water gush forth from the rock, an obvious
reference to the pope who restored the aqueduct, was so strongly
criticised for its lack of elegance and proportion that it became the
subject of a humorous pasquinade:
Guarda con l'occhio torvo
l'acqua che sgorga ai piè,
pensando inorridito
al danno che a lui fè
uno scultor stordito.
(He looks with a surly eye
at the water gushing at his feet
thinking, horrified,
of the damage done to him
by a dazed sculptor.)
Going down Via Barberini we reach the Barberini Square,
characterised by the lovely Triton's Fountain, a masterpiece by
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who created it in around 1642.
The whimsical composition, which decorated the square in front of the
palace of the noble Barberini family, depicts a triton held up by four
dolphins as he is blowing into a shell, proclaiming the family's glory
to the world. Up until the 18th century a macabre ritual would take
place in front of the fountain: the corpses of the unknown would be
shown there as a crier would call for them to be recognised.
At no. 120 of Via del Tritone is Planet Hollywood, part of the chain of
restaurants opened all over the world by a company formed by a group of
famous American movie actors including Sylvester Stallone and Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
Bees, the heraldic symbol of the Barberini, in addition to decorating
the base of the Triton's Fountain, are the protagonists of a small but
lovely composition placed at the corner between Piazza Barberini and Via
Veneto, the Fountain of the Bees.
The three insects, situated on thehinge of an open bivalve shell, were
sculpted by Bernini in 1644, to celebrate the twenty-second anniversary
of the papacy of Pope Urban VIII. The fact that he finished it before
the actual date of the anniversary seems to have been a bad omen for the
pontiff, who unfortunately died eight days before it.
From here starts Via Veneto, "twinned" with Fifth Avenue in New
York, the symbol of the Dolce Vita of the '50s and 60s.
The elegant street, celebrated by Federico Fellini, is the hangout of
politicians, intellectuals, entertainers and journalists, often
immortalised by the ever-present "paparazzi". Renowned the world over
are its luxurious hotels, the Excelsior, the Majestic, the Ambasciatori
and the Regina Palace, and its famous cafés, such as Cafè de Paris,
Doney and Harry's Bar. Across from the American Embassy, a Hard Rock
Cafè has also been opened recently.
The entire quarter was created between the late 1800s and the early
1900s, when the Boncompagni Ludovisi princes decided, with an
unscrupulous action of real estate speculation, to divide the land
belonging to their 17th-century splendid villa into lots. Of the villa,
only the Casino dell'Aurora (on Via Boncompagni), decorated by
Guercino and Caravaggio, remains, and unfortunately it is not easily
accessible.
From Via del Tritone we enter Via della Stamperia, which
leads to the Trevi Fountain, certainly the most famous and
spectacular fountain in Rome, made even more famous by the night-time
wading of Anita Ekberg in Federico Fellini's film La dolce vita.
The fountain is the terminal part of the Vergine aqueduct built
by Agrippa, a general of Augustus, in 19 B.C. to bring the water coming
from the Salone springs, 19 km away, to Rome.
Legend, illustrated in the fountain's upper panels, has it that it was a
young girl who showed Agrippa's thirsty soldiers where a copious spring
gushed forth. Hence the name of the aqueduct which, running underground
for a long stretch, is the only one in Rome that has remained in use
almost uninterruptedly from the time of its construction to the present
day. This is the aqueduct that supplies the water to the monumental
fountains of the historic centre, from Piazza Navona to Piazza di
Spagna.
The name "Trevi", on the other hand, allegedly derives from the word
Trivium, a meeting point of three streets that form this little widened
area.
It is truly surprising to see such a large fountain in such a small
square, but the artist Nicola Salvi, who created it between 1732 and
1762, carefully studied the way to increase the sensation of marvel.
Indeed, he set it almost entirely against the face of Palazzo Poli,
preceding it with a little balconied scene, almost as if it were a
theatre! The artist was, however, disturbed during his work by the
continuous criticism expressed by a barber who had his shop in the
square. To shut him up, during one night Salvi created the large basin,
familiarly called the "Ace of Cups", situated on the right-hand
balustrade, which completely blocked the view of the fountain from the
shop. Everyone knows that, if they want to return to Rome, they have to
throw a coin into the basin, but be careful: for the dream to come true,
you have to toss it over your shoulder with your back to the fountain!
Across from the fountain it is possible to admire the lively façade of
the Chiesa dei Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio.
The building, which was a Papal Parish for centuries, preserves the
hearts and lungs of 22 popes who died in the Quirinal Palace standing
nearby: from Sixtus V, who died in 1590, to Leo XIII, who died in 1903.
Pope Pius X abolished this custom which had prompted Belli, the famous
Roman dialect poet, to call the church "museo de' corate e de'
ciorcelli" (pluck museum), from the popular term used to refer to the
viscera of butchered animals.
Returning onto Via della Stamperia and continuing along Via del
Nazareno, we soon reach Piazza di Spagna where, at the foot
of the staircase of Trinità dei Monti, the "Spanish Steps",
we find the Fontana della Barcaccia.
This is the work of Pietro Bernini, who created it in around 1629,
probably with the aid of his famous son Gian Lorenzo. According to
tradition, the unusual fountain shaped like a semi-submerged boat was
ordered by Pope Urban VIII Barberini to commemorate a boat that had
ended up stranded in the square during the great flood of 1598. In
reality, the idea of depicting the boat as it is sinking was dictated by
Bernini's genius, since he had to solve a technical problem: in fact,
here the pressure of the Vergine aqueduct was rather low, and it was
necessary to create a fountain beneath the ground level.
From Piazza di Spagna starts Via del Babuino, famous for its
antique shops, which owes its name to a small fountain against the
Church of Sant'Atanasio dei Greci.
The ancient statue overlooking the granite basin depicts a supine,
sneering wanderoo but the Romans, because of its ugliness, compared it
to a monkey or, more exactly, a baboon. It is said that a cardinal, a
bit on in years, would kneel down before it in respect every time he
passed by, believing it to be the portrait of St. James. The Baboon is
one of Rome's "talking statues", where satirical pieces and diatribes of
a political nature, strictly anonymous, used to be posted.
Parallel to to Via del Babuino runs Via Margutta which, since the
1600s, Italian and foreign artists have chosen as the picturesque
location for their studios.
Although it is no longer as it once was, the street has preserved a
considerable charm, also thanks to the presence of shops such as "Marmoraro",
at no. 53, where marble is still worked using traditional artisan
techniques and old tools. The pretty Fountain of the Artists,
near n. 54, was created in 1927 by Pietro Lombardi precisely to recall
this peculiarity, since it depicts easels, stands, paintbrushes, and
palettes.
This original composition is one of the "Fontanelle Rionali" series,
created starting in 1927 by architect Pietro Lombardi. Each quarter of
Rome is represented by one or more objects symbolising that
neighbourhood - the pinecone for Rione Pigna (Piazza San Marco), the
papal tiara for the Vatican (Largo del Colonnato), amphorae for the
Testaccio (Piazza Testaccio), the helm for Rione Ripa (Lungotevere
Ripa), and so on - all harmoniously inserted into their surrounding
contexts.
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