Julius III: Aqueducts and Wall Fountains
Early in his pontificate, Julius III had diverted a part of the water of the Acqua Vergine, the first of the ancient aqueducts to be restored at Rome, for use in his Vigna on the Via Flaminia & the water wall fountains. As there was some protest against this extravagance, he sought to allay the outcries by erecting nearby a public fountain, dedicated in 1552, which still stands at the corner of the Via Flaminia and the Via di Villa Giulia. This fountain was designed by Ammannati, as both his letter to Marco Benavides at Padua and a document describing its model prove. We are fortunate in having, in addition to the detailed description of the fountain given in Ammannati's letter, two contemporary representations of this fountain. The one, a rather fanciful fresco by Taddeo Zucchero in the Sorrento Grotto, is particularly interesting for the setting; the other, an anonymous drawing of the fountain in Vienna, is at once clearer and more accurate in its proportions. The classical fountains shown in the two reproductions might almost be the facade of an ancient temple.
Ammannati describes in detail the Corinthian columns and pilasters and the great inscription in the center, with the name of the Pope and the year of dedication, and names the statues: in the rectangular niches of the wall fountain to left and right, Felicity and Abundance; above, as acroteria, figures of Rome and Minerva; at the summit of the pediment, between the two obelisks, the figure of Neptune, with an attribute that was probably a trident; over the granite basin, a great head of Apollo, spouting forth the wall water fountains. All of the mythological figures were ancient; perhaps the Felicity and Abundance fountain facades were carved by Ammannati. None of the sculpture or fountains remains today; the inscription of Julius III has been replaced by others, celebrating various owners of the casino into which the wall fountain was later incorporated; and a second story has been added above the original fagade. Even the mask and dolphins over the water basin are an addition of the baroque period. The first of a series of monumental Roman wall fountains, this structure was the prototype of the great mostre of modern Roman facades marking the outlets of the aqueducts. For other evidence for Michelangelo's concern with the design of the fountains, there is no basis for the attribution of this fountain to Jacopo Sansovino. As Mrs. MacVeagh has pointed out in her work on the fountains of papal Rome, even the obelisks at the top recall Ammannati's design.
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