Supplied by the Aqua Felice Acqueduct
After a detour to Trinità de' Monti, let’s once more follow the course taken by the Aqua Felice as it came into Rome to supply the public fountains. A clear, precise map shows that the conduit was to take the water up onto the Capitoline Hill, from which point it would then have supplied the whole series of new fountains the City Authorities already had in mind much earlier, when they took the decision to buy 100 ounces of the water. At a meeting on 9 September 1587, the Authorities declared “that under the powers of the Public Council the fountains of the Aqua Felice are to be made in the places hereunder written, to be of use to the city and to be decorated at the expense thereof: at Madonna de’ Monti, in Campo Vaccino [the Roman Forum]. At Santo Apostolo. At the fountain at Trajan’s Column. In the little square opposite Paparoni’s at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. In Piazza dell'Altieri. In Piazza Montanara. At the doughnut maker’s corner opposite the Specchi Monastery. At the Springs in Piazza Mattei and in Piazza S. Marco each time the water destined for these fails to rise and make fountains to receive it in both these places”.
This was no more than an approximate and temporary list because, as we shall see, many additions and alterations to the fountains were made, including one I must mention here: the fountain in Piazza Altieri (now Piazza del Gesù). Although already under construction, three years later the Authorities suddenly noticed that the site was “not very large and it [the fountain] would be a great inconvenience to the public, but for the sake of public utility a little niche should be made [for the fountain] in the corner of one of the houses”. The fountain specified “at Trajan’s Column” still exists and is the simple little modern fountain with three spouts [canelle] that gives its name to the Via delle Tre Cannelle. We don’t know what it looked like originally because the fountain was built at the expense of a Mr Gaspare della Molara in 1593, though we do know that it stood in front of his house and was supplied with two ounces of Aqua Felice – water he had been granted free of charge after, of course, he had “undertaken to have made entirely at his own expense the waste pipe for the return of the said water from the fountain to the public drainage system, this pipe to be well made to the wish and judgement of Master Jacomo della Porta”. That’s enough for the moment about the other fountains named in the first list, since I’ll come back to them in later sections of this website.
Instead, at this point I wish to say a little about the fountain planned “at Santo Apostolo” – today’s Piazza dei Santi Apostoli. We saw from the first list (1570) that the Congregation responsible for the construction of the Aqua Vergine fountains had also decided to build one at Santi Apostoli. The reason for this choice at first seems obvious, since the houses to the right of the church of that name belonged to the extremely powerful Colonna family. However, I shouldn’t like you to get the idea (because once in your mind it’s very hard to get rid of) that in those days the Authorities granted any special favors to the nobility or to the rich or even to the clergy; so if it just happens that, for example, we find two fountains playing right outside the front door of the princely family of the Mattei, one opposite the town house belonging to the Mutis (who were very influential men in the Capitol) or another near Molara, the banker’s house, or the Altieri family’s residence – to name but a few – then of course this is sheer coincidence. Continue the Story of the Four Fountains