Roma - Fontane

Piazza Trilussa
Fontana della Piazza

The large travertine fountain of the Sisto bridge (show-fountain of the Paola waters) was constructed in 1613 for Paolo V Borghese (1605-1621) by Giovanni Vasanzio (the Flemish Van Zanten). It was originally placed at the end of the elegant Via Giulia near the Ospizio dei Mendicanti, now in piazza Trilussa, an isolated building next to the Sisto bridge. Two Ionic columns on either side of a wide niche with their barrel vaults support an architrave on which rests a commemorative epigraph. The Borghese coat of arms dominates everything. Abundant water flows from an opening in the side part of the niche and falls into a shell from which it then flows loudly into a basin at street level. Two dragons carved in the base of the columns spurt water into the bath, as do two lion’s heads. Six, red granite columns are united by means of an iron structure that protects the fountain, moved in 1879 when it was decided to widen the bed of the Tiber and build the left bank, only to be rebuilt at the end of the nineteenth century. It was then raised about fifteen steps above street level in order to make it more visible from the Sisto Bridge.