Rome 2018 Part II - Fountains of Rome

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You are not allowed to bathe in Fontana di Trevi

If you have seen the movie La Dolce Vita you might want to pull an Anita Ekberg and wade into Fontana di Trevi and splash some water on someone who wish to stand in for Marcello Mastroianni. Our recommendation is simple: Don't! It is not permitted and you will face a pretty hefty fine if you're caught. But if you learn how they went about to shoot the iconic scene from the abovementioned flick then it probably isn't as interesting to get your feet wet in the most famous of all of Rome's fountains anymore. Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni never walked in Fontana di Trevi. They had a copy of the fountain made in a studio and that's where they shot it.



The rule about not bathing in fountains apply to all fountains in Rome by the way, and there are many of them. So no matter how hot it is when you are walking the streets of The Eternal City you are better off cooling off with a gelato or an ice tea than to dip yourself in decorative water dispensers.



This blog is, just as the title says, about the Fountains of Rome. There are many of them and they come in different sizes and shapes. Fontana di Trevi is as far as we know the only one that is a must-see in the Italian capital. But many of the others are, if you ask us, interesting enough to warrant a few moments of your time. Browse through the photos we took and judge for yourself.



We did not particularly look up/hunt down any of the fountains we took photos of, other than Fontana di Trevi of course. All the others we passed on our way to or from other sites. If we had walked a slightly different route we would surely have found other fountains. We guess that you could have a great time just walking around in Rome and try to locate fountains. Wonder if there is a guidebook or perhaps a website which could tell you where the best and the most interesting fountains are located? If there isn't we think there should be.



We don't even have any statistics to actually prove that there are more fountains in Rome than in other comparable cities. But our totally uneducated guess is that there are.



We are not historians and we can't claim that we know why they have so many fountains. We can only speculate on that subject. We guess that the fountains were an important way to distribute drinking water to the population of Rome before water was supplied directly into private homes. It was easier to have one water pipe running to each block and have the people who lived there gather the water they needed from a central water fountain than to install one water pipe into each house. When later water pipes were installed into each house the fountains became obsolete but were kept for esthetical reasons. They had become part of what defines Rome. If you take away the fountains Rome simply isn't Rome anymore.



Here at the end we have to admit that we have cheated a little bit. We didn't have enough photos to fill out the blog entry properly. Five of the photos were taken on a trip to Rome Ake made a few years ago. Out of those, three were taken in Villa d'Este. Villa d'Este is a palace and garden just outside Rome. The garden has a very easily recognized theme - fountains. There are fountains everywhere. Big fountains, small fountains, simple fountains, complex fountains, pretty fountains... and so on...



We hope you enjoyed this little exposé. If you did, we can recommend a visit to Rome. Seeing the fountains IRL is better than seeing them in a blog

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Photos

You can look but not touch
If you have seen the movie La Dolce Vita you might want to pull an Anita Ekberg and wade into Fontana di Trevi. Our recommendation is simple: Don't! You'll get a fine if you try

Fontana di Trevi
Fontana di Trevi is the most famous of all of Rome's fountains

Fontana di Trevi
Fontana di Trevi is a masterpiece

Fountain
Not all of Rome's fountains are big and famous

Fountain
There are countless of fountains in Rome and they come in different sizes and shapes.

Fountain or a watering trough?
We admit that it looks more like a watering trough than a fountain. But since the number of cows that graze in central Rome is very close to zero we think it makes more sense to call it a fountain

Fountain
We guess that the fountains were an important way to distribute drinking water to the population of Rome before water was supplied directly into private homes

The garden of Villa d'Este
Villa d'Este is a palace and garden just outside Rome.

The garden of Villa d'Este
The garden has a very easily recognized theme - fountains.

The garden of Villa d'Este
There are fountains everywhere. Big fountains, small fountains, simple fountains, complex fountains, pretty fountains... and so on...

It is a fountain
Look at the next photo if you don't believe us

Close up
We told you it was a fountain

Monument with a fountain
It looks more like a monument but it doubles as a fountain

Wall with a fountain
It looks more like a wall but it doubles as a fountain

Obelisk with a fountain
It looks more like an obelisk but it doubles as a fountain

Close up of the obelisk with a fountain
Sometimes you have to get close to see that there is a fountain there

Comments

[Rainyb]

I agree, Been there, it's awesome!

[Rainyb]

I agree, lots of wonderful fountains there. Looks like I missed some ;o(

[Ake Och Emma]

Too many to see all
You are bound to miss most of them in a city as large as Rome. It was a bit fun though to stop and have a quick look at each fountain /Ake

[Dancing Dave]

Fontana di Trevi
I see masterpieces like this Ake, and you are right it is a masterpiece, and reflect on the oodles of money the person who commissioned this fountain must have had. The result was not just a symbol of refreshment and cooling reflection...but an enduring symbol of power. How fortunate successive generations can enjoy such monuments, commissioned in marble to endure, magnificence that was only created to display their creator's patron's power and lavish excesses.

[Ake Och Emma]

We sure are fortunate
As you say we are fortunate to have wonders like Fontana di Trevi around us. But we are also double fortunate in that we also can afford, have the time and are in good enough health to travel. /Ake

[RENanDREW]

The trough counts as a 'drinking fountain' :)
There was a self-guided walking tour of Rome you could do, with a focus on fountains...I remember doing a few such 'fountain' walks on different trips with my family when I was young - they were marked on a gigantic map that was nightmare to use (and impossible to fold!). Fountains are such a beautiful part of Rome's streetscapes :)

[Ake Och Emma]

So there was a fountain tour
It was interesting to hear that there at least used to exist a do-it-yourself-tour with fountains as the theme. Thank you for telling us about it. I will actually update the text with this because it makes the blog slightly more interesting. /Ake

[D MJ Binkley]

Splash, splash, no don't
You are right they don't like people messing with this famous fountain. Well take your advice and stick with the gelato.

[Ake Och Emma]

Even football coaches gets a fine
One of Rome's football teams won an important game not long ago. The team coach danced in a fountain when he celebrated the victory and was given a fine for doing so. /Ake