Fontana di Trevi, Rome > Reviews (12)

OCATION
The Trevi fountain (Italian: Fontana di Trevi), dominating the Piazza di Trevi (place of three roads) is probably one of the most famous fountains in the world, and quite deservedly so! The nearest main road in the Via di San Vincenzo, if approaching from the East. If you approach it from the other side, as we did, you will find yourself wandering through small alleys and side streets populated with souvenir stalls before turning a corner and almost stumbling across it.

HISTORY
According to legend, thirsty Roman soldiers once asked a girl where they could find water. She directed them to a spring, which was later used as the source for an aqueduct commissioned by Agrippa, which was named the Aqua Virgo, after the girl (who was, presumably, a virgin). The aquaduct was renovated during the Renaissance and renamed the Acque Vergine. The Trevi fountain marks the end of this 14-mile long aqueduct, which provides pure drinking water to many famous fountains in Rome.

Originally, the water brought by the Acque Vergine was received by a much simpler fountain which cascaded into a plain basin. Work on the current splendid fountain was begun in 1732 although the final touch, the huge statue of Oceanus, was not set in place until 1762, marking the culmination of the project. The legendary scene between the virgin and the soldiers is depicted on the carved frieze decorating the fountain.

THE TREVI FOUNTAIN EXPERIENCE
Pictures will not prepare you for your first encounter with this truly magnificent fountain. You hear it long before you see it – the sound of the burbling of water can be heard for several hundred yards before you find yourself in the surprisingly small piazza which is home to this glorious fountain. Unless you go there particularly early, there will undoubtedly be crowds of people several-deep crowding around the fountain, trying to get as close as they can to the unique sculptures and friezes, to dabble their fingers in the water, and taking their turn to toss a coin over their shoulders, which, according to legend, will ensure their return to Rome. It is estimated that as much as €3,000 is thrown into the fountain daily.

If the scene during the day is impressive, the spectacle of the lit fountain at night is breath-taking. If you have time, try to go once in the day and once in the evening, to experience both side of this incredible monument to Baroque engineering and art.

It is difficult to stand directly in front of the fountain and get a direct shot of all of it, unless you have a camera equipped wide a wide-angle lens. There is a building over the road on a corner; I can’t remember if it was a bank or a museum, with wide steps. If you stand at the top of those you can fit all of the fountain in your view-finder. But it is worth taking those shots, just to take home a personal reminder that you were there.

ROBBING THE POOR
For 34 years a local man named Roberto Cercelletta used to regularly steal from the fountain in the early hours of the morning, netting as much as €1000 a day before he was discovered and arrested in 2002. In 2003 a judge ruled that the coins had been discarded by their owners and therefore their removal from the fountain was not technically stealing. However, since then, copy-cat attempts have been quickly spotted and stopped. The money is collected officially by charity Caritas and is used to help Rome’s poor.