Fontana di Piazza Colonna
Fontana di Piazza Colonna | |
|---|---|
| Fountain | |
Giacomo Della Porta | |
| Location | Rome |
 Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
| Coordinates: 41°54′03″N 12°28′49″E / 41.90083°N 12.48028°E | |
The
The fountain was one of a group of sixteen fountains built by Della Porta following the reconstruction of the
The water for the fountain first arrived at the old Trevi Fountain, then went to two reservoirs at the foot of the butte of San Sebastiancello, then through a series of the channels to the corner of via Condotti and the via del Corso, to Piazza Venezia, to the foot of the column of Marcus Aurelius. The source of the water for the fountain of Piazza Colonna was only 67 feet above sea level; like the Trevi Fountain, the Fontana della Barcaccia, and the fountains of Piazza Navona, all connected to the Acqua Vergine, the fountain of Piazza Colonna was unable to jet water high into the air.[2]
The original project of Della Porta was to place an antique Roman statue of a sea god, called Marforio, in the fountain, against a background of a rocky grotto, behind which the column of Marcus Aurelius would be seen.[3] The final fountain was simpler: the octagonal basin of the fountain was made of pink marble from the island of Chios in Greece, the same marble that Della Porta used for frame of the doorway of St. Peter's Basilica. Della Porta also designed the sixteen carved lion heads around the basin. A circular stone vasque was placed on a pedestal in the center, and water poured from this vasque into the basin.[4]
The fountain was slightly restored by
In 1830 the architect Alessandro Stocchi removed the original central vasque and replaced it with the current vasque, made of white marble. He also added two groups of sculptures of dolphins, their tails wrapped around seashells, spouting water from their mouths, at either end of the basin.
See also
- Fountains in Rome
- List of fountains in Rome
References
- ^ Tazartes, Fontaines de Rome, pg. 17 and 58.
- ^ See Katherine Wentworth Rinne, The Fall and Rise of the Waters of Rome, in Marilyn Symmes, Fountains - Splash and Spectacle.
- ^ See Tazartes, pg. 58. The original design by Della Porta, dated 1574, was found in the papers of Pole Alexander VII. See D'Onofrio, pg. 114, figure 84-85.
- ^ Tazartes, pg. 58
Sources
- Maurizia Tazartes, Fontaines de Rome, translated from Italian into French by Christine PIot. Citadelles and Mazenot, Paris, 2004.
- Marilyn Symmes, Fountains- Splash and Spectacle. Water and Design from the Renaissance to the Present. Thames and Hudson and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. 1998.
- D'Onofrio, Cesare, Le Fontane di Roma, con documenti e disegni inediti, 2nd edition, Rome, 1962
External links
- Lucentini, M. (31 December 2012). The Rome Guide: Step by Step through History's Greatest City. ISBN 9781623710088.
Media related to Fontana di Piazza Colonna (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons
| Preceded by Fontana di Piazza d'Aracoeli |
Landmarks of Rome Fontana di Piazza Colonna |
Succeeded by Fontane di Piazza Farnese |