WHEN YOU ARRIVE IN ROME
When
you arrive
in Rome, in addition to the centuries-old pine trees,
the first town residents that
you can meet are the small fountains.
Small drinking fountains
in every corner of the city tell about Rome, each in its own way.
Rome
owes his life to the
fountains, that they are always been a great resource.
The
beginning there was only the Tiber River that bathed the fields, that was a defensive barrier and it was the "road" that enabled Rome
to be in touch with the Mediterranean world.
Then
the Aqueducts
came and the Appius aqueduct was
created, the first of a long sequence: 16 km long, built 312 years before Christ was born.
But
the water in every corner of the city has always been insured by the
small fountains and thanks to the abundance of water that Rome was called the "regina aquarum", the "Queen of Water".
The
"father" of archeology,
Rodolfo Lanciani emphasized this abundance of water: in
addition to the thermae, ancient
Rome had 212 fountains that were fed by 11 aqueducts next to
247 storage tanks which guaranteed 1 billion liters per day of drinking
water clear and
fresh.
THE WATER "FLEW" ACROSS THE CITY
The
water "flew" across the city by bridges
and viaducts, and even today
you can see them in the Appia Antica Park or embedded inside buildings in the city center a short walk from Largo di Torre Argentina. These engineering tools were in fact necessary
to overcome differences
in height of the water in a city grown among its Seven Hills.
The
aqueducts and the small fountains speak
to you again, and each has a different story to tell
in a city like Rome, which has fountains more than any other city: someone
says that here there are 2000
and others say up to 2500.
THE "NASONI"
But
what is certain
is that Rome is unique in having the "nasoni", i.e. “big noses”.
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| an example of "nasone" |
Luigi
Pianciani, the first mayor of the
city, decided their construction and this name derived from the curved metal tube, which gives them the appearance of small dwarfs.
In
the hot summer afternoons,
indeed, they are there to look at you smiling while
you catapult with empty bottle in search
of water!
Their identikit is this:
1 meter and 10
centimeters high; the nose is
62 cm long,
100 kilo
weigh and
they are of cast
iron.
BUT A NEW GENERATION OF SMALL FOUNTAINS
But
a new generation of
small drinking fountains begins to live
since the 20’s of the XX century. The
young Pietro Lombardi,
just 31 years old, graduated in architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Via Ripetta, won the national competition to built a fountain in Testaccio.
Lombardi
was inspired by "Monte dei Cocci" and
invented a fountain composed of many amphorae, evoking an indian
pagoda.
But
above all, this fountain tells
about the era in which it was
born: the search for a linear and stylized
dimension, in the city that was
the capital of the overabundance
and theatrical Baroque.
The
idea was entirely successful, and it's still there, in Piazza dell’ Emporio.
 |
| Piazza dell'Emporio |
The following year,
on a proposal from the Superintendent,
Lombardi was entrusted with the
implementation of
other fountains,
in which the characteristics of the place had to be
present in the compositional elements.
And
so these fountains
offer you a wealth of suggestions and they tell about Rome in its traits most essential and true.
The Barrel
in Via della Cisterna,
to remember the many taverns in the area; the fountain of the Tiaras, close
to the colonnade of St.
Peter's Square, with its
three papal keys surmounted by popes
tiaras; the Books
in Via
degli Staderari,
close to an ancient library;
the fountain of Pigna in front of Piazza Venezia,
in which two blooms of tulips support the pinecone,
symbolizing the name of the ward; the
fountain of Cannonballs, in Via di Porta
Castello, near the military fortress of Castel Sant'Angelo; the fountain of the Helm, close to the complex of
San Michele, to evoke the ancient harbor of Ripa Grande on the banks of the Tiber River; and, in Via Margutta, the fountain of
Arts where brushes and
colors symbolize the painters and
sculptors who, as always, crowding
Rome.
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| Piazza San Pietro |
 | |||||
| Via della Cisterna |
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| Via degli Staderari |
 |
| the fountain of the Helm |
 |
| Piazza Venezia |
 |
| Via Margutta |
 |
| Via di Porta Castello |
