The hallmark of Rome is the Trevi Fountain. It seems that all those roads that lead to Rome end right next to it. This is the largest, most famous, most beautiful and popular fountain in this city.
Legends explaining the name of the fountain
There are several legends explaining the name of the reservoir, known worldwide as the Trevi Fountain in Rome. According to one of them, the commander and son-in-law of the emperor Octavian, Mark Vipsaniy Agrippa, in 19 BC, leading a detachment of Roman soldiers dying of thirst, met a girl who indicated the soldiers the place of the purest mineral spring. Her name was Trivia. The bas-relief of the girl explaining the way to the reservoir to the soldiers is located on the second tier of the facade of the Palazzo Poli.
Start of construction and further modernization
Agrippa conducted this healing water, granting strength and healing from all ailments, to his terms in Rome.
This aqueduct called Aqua Virgo, or water Virgo, 20 kilometers long, lasted several centuries and was destroyed by the Goths. Dozens of years later, it was restored and served the Romans until the middle of the 15th century, until Pope Nicola V decided to restore it.
He entrusted this to the famous architect and sculptor Leon Alberti. According to the rules of that time, the end of the aqueduct was to be crowned with a reservoir of purely practical, utilitarian significance - the inhabitants of the city took water in it for household needs. The author of the project placed it on a small market square, on which three streets flocked. It was called the Treio crossroads (later Trevi) and was located on the eastern slope of the Quirinale Hill, where until now the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome exists.
It was in 1453. At three points, opposite the end of each street, on the side of the pool was a marble mask from which water was knocked out. From that moment on, the pool began to be called the Virginia Aqueduct. Later they found a source closer to the original, in the village of Trebium, which in vulgar Latin sounds like Trevi. Water began to be supplied to Rome from it. Each version of the origin of the name has a right to exist.
The heyday of baroque architecture
From the middle of the XVII century, the development of this small area begins. In 1650 the church of Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio was erected on one side of it, and on the contrary in 1678 the beautiful Palazzo Barrameo was built, which was later bought by Joseph Conti, Duke of Pauli. He acquired all the houses next to him and expanded and rebuilt the palace.
An acute question arose of the reconstruction of the reservoir. And here Pope Urban VIII entrusts this large-scale work to the famous architect of the time Lorenzo Bernini ( Bernini crater on Mercury and a portrait on 50,000 banknotes of Italian lire speaks about his popularity), which in 1629 developed sketches of the future fountain, reminiscent of large-scale theater sets. According to the drawings, the future girandole promised to become the largest. Now its dimensions are as follows: height - 25.9 m, width - 19.8 m. A few years later, dad died, the work was frozen. The Trevi Fountain in Rome was slowly collapsing. The sculptor Carlo Fontana made the last contribution to the projects - he owns a sketch of the central sculpture of Neptune with a newt.
Start of construction of the fountain in its current form
100 years have passed, and another pontiff - Clementius XII - resumes the reconstruction of the reservoir. He himself belonged to the family of the Dukes of Paulie, which simplified the entry of the palazzo into the general composition. The most famous and venerable architects and sculptors of that time are attracted. As a result, Nicola Salvi wins.
He was engaged in the construction of the fountain from 1732 until the day of his death in 1951. In general, such Italian masters of architecture as Pietro de Cortona, and sculptors Filippo della Valle and Pietro Bracci (they completed most of the figures) participated in the development of ideas at different times. The main find of the project can be considered the combination of the entire composition of the fountain with the facade of the Palazzo Poli into a single whole. Several windows were walled up, and the niche from which Neptune exits was mounted on the wall. This made the Trevi Fountain in Rome unique.
An interesting fact is that for 2 decades the second floor of the palace was occupied by Zinaida Volkonskaya, whose literary salon was visited by all the celebrities of that time. She died in Rome and was buried just in that church, which is located opposite the palazzo.
Hymn to water
If you find the Trevi Fountain on a map of Rome, you can see the entire layout of the “three streets” square, small but spacious, determine its location and the possibilities of an optimal entrance. Water in this reservoir is still supplied from clean underground sources. The whole composition includes elements of antiquity, the Renaissance and Baroque. The motives borrowed from Botticelli (the famous Venus standing on the sink) and Michelangelo are clearly visible.
The whole composition is dedicated to the water element. Above the central figure of Neptune on four pillars is an elegant balustrade, and on it are two figures that embody health and abundance, impossible without water in principle. Her life-giving force glorifies any detail of the composition. Sea horses (left reared, right deceased) personify the disturbing sea. Hippocampi or seahorses, newts, soldiers dying of thirst - everything glorifies the sea. This is a hymn to the ocean.
The impossibility of life without water is indicated by the Trevi Fountain in Rome. The photo of the night square with the lights is shocking. At any time of the day it is impossible to find a disadvantageous angle. But this is precisely the genius of the Italian masters of “frozen music in stone”. For reference: the building of the Institute of Graphics. In the cinema, the fountain is immortalized by the night bathing scene of the heroine Anita Ekberg in the film “Sweet Life” by F. Fellini.
The omnipotence of the fountain in matters of love
Legends about his omnipotence add charm. For a small bribe - one coin - you can guarantee yourself another trip to a country such as Italy. Trevi Fountain also accepts two coins with gratitude. No matter what shoulder you throw them over, in any case you will meet the love of your life in Italy. If you do not be greedy, but throw and throw, then you can get rich here and here, in Italy, legitimize your relationship.
The legend that two never part if they drink together at the same time the water from the reservoir adds fame to the fountain. And supposedly such a couple was, and maybe that girl was called Trivia. There are a lot of legends, millions of tourists. Is it any wonder that the treasures mined every day from the bottom of the reservoir make up a considerable part of the city’s budget. The Trevi Fountain in Rome is so beautiful and unusual that writing about it is true happiness.