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As is apparent from the remains of the inscription on the fountain, and, above all, in the wages registers held at the Capitoline Archives, work on the new water conduits was increased around 1594 under the direction of the great architect of outdoor fountains, Jacopo della Porta. Later on in this book we shall see how immensely important he was to the construction of a large number of fountains in Rome during the last quarter of the 16 th century. Nonetheless, the restoration referred to in the last part of the inscription must have been fairly drastic although it kept the basic shape; and it was probably not the work of della Porta (who died in 1602) but of Giovanni Fontana: "Lastly, under the auspices of Clemente Vili [1592-1605], Card. Pietro Aldobrandini restored the water to the fountain recently lost in the Tiber floods. In 1604 the Rome City Authorities restored this fountain which, no matter how many times it tried the generosity of princes, was itself tried just as many times by the adverse weather".
After this somewhat philosophical and bitter statement, let us move on to the second plaque, which deserves our special attention. The inscription reads, "Following the misery of a continued drought – due to the blockage of the conduits carrying the Aqua Felice caused by the collapse of the Ponte Gregoriano – and the laying of flintstones in the square, Alexander VII [1655-67] restored this fountain with 36 ounces of Aqua Paola for public use and dignity in 1659, the fourth year of his pontificate".
To record the work on this fountain, which must have been very important, the Pontiff coined a fine medal. What is especially interesting about this inscription is that the works it refers to, which were perhaps the greatest of all the renovations – though they did not alter the basic outlines of the fountain – were executed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. In keeping with the spirit that inspires his work, this great artist’s first requirement was an abundance of water such as the fountain had never before dreamed of. In fact, in 1658, a pipe laid from the huge monument at the mouth of the Aqua Paola on the Janiculum Hill brought a good 36 ounce flow to Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere. Moreover, the fountain, which until then had been located toward the side of the square opposite the church, was demolished and rebuilt in the centre of the square.
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