Fountains are a beautiful part of Rome. Their creation served several purposes. They were sources of clean drinking water before indoor plumbing was available and standard. In fact, residents still use these fountains to fill water bottles as they travel through the city. Another purpose was to be monuments to celebrate important people and gods. We went all around Rome, and here are our favorite 3 fountains in Rome that you shouldn’t miss.
Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain is probably one of the most famous and (in my opinion) one of the most beautiful. It was finished in 1762 and has undergone extensive restoration projects over the years. This fountain is usually very crowded in the front, but you can usually get a good angle without all of the people in your photo. It is beautiful during the day, but I think it is equally beautiful at night with the lights all lit up. This fountain is such a landmark of Rome, that it needs to be on any fountain lover’s list to see.
Fountains of the Piazza Navona
While I love the Trevi Fountain as a singular fountain. My favorite plaza with fountains is the Piazza Navona. It has several fountains in the plaza, and it so beautiful light up at night.
When you visit, you need to go look at these up close since the details on them are incredible. Since this plaza is so large it has been used for theater presentations, festivals, parades, and other large gatherings. You can almost image the interesting events that have happened over time in this plaza.
The Fountain of the Four Rivers (Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi) sits in the middle of plaza. It was created in 1651 for Pope Innocent X. Travertine rocks were used to create a depiction of the four rivers representing the continents the Vatican had spread its authority. The rivers shown are the Nile River (Africa), the Danube River (Europe), the Ganges River (Asia), and the Rio de las Plata (Americas). In the center is a tribute to the Pope Innocent X’s family (the Pamphilis) in the form of an obelisk featuring the Pamphili family emblem.
The fountains in Piazza Navona are breathtaking, but the main highlight of the evening in the plaza, however, is the street performers. Fire jugglers put on such a fantastic show to music, and their talent lighting up the dark is mesmerizing. A circular crowd would gather to watch them, and the kids loved the shows. We also saw artists that created impressive paintings of famous Italian landmarks in minutes with a flourish using spray paint and fire. The artists would make an incredible painting in front of your eyes that you could purchase, or if you wanted a slightly different variation of colors, you could look at their other creations that were available to buy.
Fountains of Piazza Popolo
This is one of the newer fountains that we saw in Rome since it was constructed in 1822. It was used to provide public water supply from the the aqueduct. These fountains were created to server a practical function – water access – but was also meant to be a public memorial to the achievement of the aqueduct itself.
In the center of the plaza sits the Fontana dell’Obelisco, which is four smaller fountains featuring lions that surrounds a center obelisk.
On the west side is tthe Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune).
On the east side is the Rome between Tiber and the Aniene.
