In 1574, one of the new branches of the Aqua Virgo aqueduct, which was being rebuilt, reached the site of Emperor Domitian’s former stadium. The space empty during the Middle Ages in Renaissance Rome was transformed into a square that retained its long and oval shape and was built up with buildings around its perimeter. This square was officially named Piazza in Agone, but by the 16th century the inhabitants simplified its name to the almost familial Piazza Navona.
According to documents, two fountains were to be built at either end of the square. But since the aqueduct crossed the center of the square, it was decided to add a third water outlet to the original design, a simple horse drinker located between the two larger structures.
The two main fountains were commissioned from the architect Giacomo Della Porta. He designed two marble basins with a multi-petal shape, and in the original version they were placed above two steps. The pools were surrounded by marble parapets so that they would not be damaged by the many carriages and wagons passing through the square.
Since both pools needed decoration, Della Porta thought of using four large tritons carved for the Piazza del Popolo but not used. They were installed in a fountain on the south side of the square – the water came from a small group of stones in the center of the pool and from the horns into which the four newts trumpeted. Small additional groups were also carved for each of the two fountains, in the form of grotesque masks between pairs of small dolphins.
However, when it came time to carve four large newts (or similar figures) for the pool on the north side, the money ran out. The four masks intended for its decoration were used for the fountain that Della Porta had built in front of the Pantheon. This condition was maintained for nearly a century.
When the central drinker was replaced in 1651 by Bernini’s famous Fountain of the Four Rivers, the remaining funds were spent on improving the southern fountain. Why the money was spent on this fountain and not on the still unfinished northern fountain is easy to understand, given that on the south side of the square is Palazzo Pamphili, whose owner, Pope Innocent X (Giovanni Battista Pamphili), commissioned the work.
Bernini, who was responsible for the work, replaced the stones with a group of three dolphins topped by a large murex shell, which the people of Rome immediately nicknamed “The Snail”.
Innocent X was not very pleased with the small size of the group and a year later got rid of it, giving it to his daughter-in-law Olympia. Bernini, on the other hand, was asked to create something larger.
Continuing this haunted by failures, Bernini finally satisfied the Pope by depicting a nude, bearded figure balancing on a shell in an attempt to grasp the tail of a dolphin, which, while between the man’s legs, spews water from its mouth. Based on their proportions, either the man is a giant or the dolphin is a dwarf.
The face of the figure, reminiscent of an African figure, caused it to be called “Moor”, which eventually led to the official name of the structure Fontana del Moro (Fountain of the Moor). The northern fountain, still unadorned, was called the Fountain of the Coppersmiths because of the nearby stores with cauldrons, pots and other metal utensils.
It is possible that Bernini used the “talking statue” of Pasquino standing only 50 meters away from the fountain as a model for the upper part of the figure of the Moor Bernini used as a model the “talking statue” of Pasquino standing only 50 meters away from the fountain. This is hinted at by a simple comparison of the two figures.
This is quite strange, since, due to Pasquino’s poor condition, none of the artists ever thought of him as a model. Moreover, in those days “talking statues” represented the worst enemies of the pope-king (who was Bernini’s client), and the old limbless torso took over most of the satirical posters against the ruling class hung around his neck at night.
However, as we know, Bernini was not without humor, and his choice may not have been a mere coincidence, but revenge for the way Innocent X had treated him earlier.
With additional funds, Bernini removed the steps and parapet from both fountains, and for the southern fountain he built a larger basin at ground level, completely encircling the original structure and replicating its shape, greatly improving the overall appearance of the fountain.
What happened to the “Snail”? It was used for another fountain by Alessandro Algardi, located at Villa Pamphili, once the private gardens of a noble family and now a public park.
The original group has now been replaced by a copy and is kept in the Galleria Doria Pamphili.
All this time the northern fountain continued without tritons, masks, or a center group. The next pope, Alexander VII, added an in-ground basin like the southern one. But the fountain had to wait until the fall of papal rule to be fully completed.
In 1873, no longer by the whims of the Pope, but on the basis of a public competition held by the Roman municipality, a central group was chosen for the northern fountain, carved by Antonio della Bitta and depicting Neptune piercing an octopus with his trident, surrounded by smaller figures of horses, cherubs and naiads by Gregorio Zappala.
The structure was named Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune).
As for the central horse drinker, it was first moved to the then unfinished Mednikov Fountain and then taken to Villa Borghese, to a small clearing near the pond, where it can still be seen today.
By the time the Fountain of Neptune was completed, the tritons and masks of Della Porta of the Fontana Mavra were showing signs of aging. Instead of restoring them, they too were moved to Villa Borghese, and copies created by the little-known sculptor Luigi Amici were installed in the fountain.
The originals, however, were increasingly falling into disrepair due to bad weather and vandalism. It was only a few years ago that the newts were finally taken away for restoration, but one of the groups of masks is still in place.
Toward the end of the Jubilee year of 1650, Pope Innocent X decided to build a third fountain in the Piazza Navona, where his family palace was located, replacing the central drinker with something grandiose.
Under the previous pope, Urban VIII (Barberini) the famous architect Gianlorenzo Bernini had been the official builder of the city’s fountains. However, the Barberini and Pamphili families were longtime enemies, so that after Urban VIII’s death, some members of his family responsible for the massive corruption of the previous years were persecuted and forced to flee Rome.
This explains the fact that Innocent X did not want to patronize Bernini, the author of many outstanding works commissioned by his predecessor’s family. Instead, Innocent X favored another famous architect, Francesco Borromini.
The Pope organized a competition to build the central fountain of the Piazza Navona, in which the most famous architects of the time took part. Only Bernini was not invited. Borromini could easily have won, if only his design had been a little simpler than what he had submitted – an obelisk surrounded by four seashells spewing water. But Borromini had no experience in building fountains, and his name is never associated with any.
Borromini was given a secondary role – Innocent X commissioned him to build a new branch of the aqueduct to bring water from the main outlet of the Aqua Virgo (today’s Trevi Fountain) to the Piazza Navona, as the water pressure in the old branch was not enough for the new large fountain.
Here Bernini resorted to his legendary stratagem. Innocent X’s daughter-in-law, Olimpia Maidalcini (Pimpa or Pimpaccia to the Romans who hated her), was a very greedy woman. It was assumed that after the death of her husband, the Pope’s brother, she became a strong influence on the decisions made by the Pope.
So, Bernini, who did not take part in the competition, still drew a beautiful design and made a model of it in silver, which he presented to Olympia, making her eyes glaze over. Innocent X, who by then had rejected all the designs submitted to him, was persuaded by his daughter-in-law to choose Bernini’s fountain.
There is another version, according to which Bernini, like all architects, made his model from clay and, with the help of Cardinal Niccola Ludovisi, secretly delivered it to the Palazzo Pamphili.
After seeing the model, Innocent X fell in love with the project and chose it. Angry Borromini literally almost went mad when the Pope awarded the victory to his rival. It was after this incident that legends of friction between the two brilliant architects began to be born.
The cost of the new fountain was so high that to satisfy his daughter-in-law Innocent X had to impose a tax on bread, at the same time slightly reducing the weight of the standard loaf. This gave the townspeople another reason to hate Pimpaccia.
What Bernini conceived for the Piazza Navona, the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers), is undoubtedly the most elaborate and inventive composition ever devised for Roman fountains.
He knew that the Pope would have liked to see an obelisk towering above the fountain, especially an ancient one recently discovered in the Circus Maxentius, carved in imitation of Egyptian ones but at the time believed to be genuine.
Bernini made the obelisk appear much taller by setting it above a pyramidal group of stones forming a cave-like cavity below. This was an absolute novelty at the time, as classical architectural schemes forbade the use of a hollow base to support a heavy structure such as an obelisk. With his work, Bernini proved that such a thing was possible.
The central stone pyramid, which Bernini was busy with for at least two years, is carved from durable travertine from Tivoli. At the corners of the pyramid sit four huge white marble allegories representing the main rivers of the four continents known by the 17th century.
They are the Danube for Europe (by Antonio Raggi), the Ganges for Asia (by Claude Poussin), the Rio de la Plata for the Americas (by Francesco Baratta) and the Nile for Africa (by Antonio Fancelli). The allegory of the Nile was carved with a veiled head to show the obscurity of the source of this river (only discovered in the 19th century).
On the north and south sides hang two ornate coats of arms of the Pamphili family idealized to represent Innocent X’s religious authority over the world. Water fills a large in-ground basin, flowing out of several holes in the stones and running over their surface.
The surface of the stones was originally gold-colored (the paint is now completely gone) and, perhaps by design, partially covered with weeds. The many small streams and waterfalls, whose noise is also part of the composition, were also an absolute novelty, as before the water in the fountains had always been spewed from one or more standard nozzles.
A variety of animals peek out from the stones, providing a reference to the four continents. On the eastern side is a lion emerging from its den (a cave beneath the stones) to drink under a tall palm tree rising almost to the base of the obelisk. On the opposite, western side, a horse similarly appears with its front legs raised in a gallop. This horse is the only part of the fountain personally carved by Bernini.
Below the Rio de la Plata, a strange armadillo peeks out from the corner of the north side. Bernini had the opportunity to see this animal in Rome because the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher, the famous Egyptologist who was consulted on the text inscribed on the obelisk, had a small collection in the seminary of the Roman College that included a stuffed armadillo sent to him from South America by other Jesuits. This effigy undoubtedly served as a model for Bernini.
The coins at the base of the allegory suggest that in the 1600s the legend of the Serra del Plata, an existing “Silver Hill” somewhere in South America, from which the river was named Rio de la Plata (Silver River), was still alive. On the opposite, southern side, there is a group of cacti “growing” on the rocks, and a snake with its mouth open menacingly crawling on top.
The large fish and sea serpent “swim” in the in-ground pool, swallowing water and being a fancy drainage device.
Bernini’s masterpiece was appreciated not only by Innocent X, but by the whole of Rome (with the exception of the unfortunate Borromini). Opened on June 12, 1651, the Fountain of the Four Rivers simply stunned onlookers. Walking around the structure was like a virtual round the world.
And to date, this work of architecture is considered one of the most grandiose in the world. And, of course, is among the must-see sights of Rome. True, this also means constant crowdedness, except in the early morning hours. In addition to tourists, Piazza Navona with its fountains attracts artists, musicians and other street performers. During the Christmas holidays, a fair is organized here.
