Rome has a great number of fountains in various sizes and shapes, of varying beauty and of varying fame. This large number is due to the fact that they have always been considered as the best possible embellishment to a city, the furnishings ‘par excellence’.

It is enough to just think of the typical, little, cast iron fountain, which is not called the Roman nose by coincidence. When speaking about fountains in Rome it is natural to immediately think of some great, famous fountains which are not only valuable for simple, urban ornaments but are veritable works of art. Examples of this are the fountains designed and made by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, one of the greatest sculptors and architects of the seventeenth century, who also did urban planning and left signs of his greatness in other works.

The first fountain by Bernini is the Barcaccia, at the foot of the staircase of Trinità dei Monti. It is famous thanks to its privileged position. It dates from 1627-29 and was commissioned by Pope Urbano VIII Barberini, which explains the presence of Barberinian apes on the fountain. It represents an enormous ship that is slowly sinking and was meant to be a memorial of the tragic episode that took place at the end of the sixteenth century when the Tevere flooded the area.

In reality, the fountain was the work of Pietro Bernini, father of the more famous Gian Lorenzo, whose son collaborated in this work.

Exclusively by the Bernini son, is the Fontana del Tritone in Piazza Barberini, built between 1642 and 1643. This fountain represents a Triton in a shell surrounded by four dolphins. With this work, Bernini was symbolising the power of the Pope Barberini. In the same square is another fountain by the same artist. The Fontana delle Api, was built at around the same time and was dismantled in 1880 and only put back together in 1917 in a different position, at the crossroads of Via Veneto and Via di S. Basilio and mostly rebuilt.

Unfortunately, the current version is not much like the original and only part of the fountain can be said to be authentic. However, Bernini’s most famous fountain, is the Quattro Fiumi, at the centre of Piazza Navona. It is said by many to be the most beautiful in Rome which accounts for its fame and was built between 1648 and 1651, in marble and travertine.

The four statues represent the four rivers, symbol of the four parts of the world that were known at that time. The Danube is Europe, The Nile is Africa, the Ganges is Asia and Rio represents the Americas. In the same square is another fountain that Bernini only designed, and which was made by Antonio Mari.

He was extremely loyal to the creator’s design of the Fontana del Moro, which is in the south of the square and was built in 1653. The fountain gets its name from the presence of a triton with African features that is shown fighting with a dolphin.