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Finally, thankfully, we have arrived at the fourth and last inscription, which is quite laconic and reads, in English: "S.P.Q.R. In 1873, by the will of the Authorities of Free Rome this monumental fountain, the work of the ancient Pontiffs, was restored according to its first design". What does "according to its first design" mean? I really don’t understand, but then the official who pronounced those words on behalf of the City Authorities probably didn’t either, because the fountain was, and remained – throughout the restorations by Carlo Fontana, Bernini, Giovanni Fontana, Jacopo della Porta and Bramante – almost identical to the fountain sketched in the plan of at least 500 years ago.
I hope at this point that I have not made you suffer too much and, as promised – or rather threatened at the beginning – I will now move on to take a look at the well known, strange and unexplained history (or tale) of the "Fons olei" or "oil well", which is the name still attached to an alleyway that opens onto Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere.
As I said at the outset, according to a number of mid-17th century traditions this fountain was built by Pope Hadrian I (772-95) and it was probably already a very ancient fountain, if only this could be proved. However, on examining the story of the oil well, I believe it might possible to establish that there was once a previous fountain, dating back to the reign of the Emperor Augustus, in the same place as the later fountain now stands – or rather stood, before Bernini moved it.
We have seen how, in 1659, Bernini brought Aqua Paola to the fountain instead of the Aqua Felice which had supplied it since around 1591-94. But we know from 16th century writers that even before the Aqua Felice was put in, the fountain was fed, if not with Aqua Alsietina itself, with water that certainly arrived via the ancient aqueducts that carried the Aqua Alsietina. If I am not mistaken, the first of these authors was Marliani (1544) – a very reliable writer – who told of Augustus’ colossal "Naumachia" (or giant pool for the games that involved naval battles using real ships) that lay no more than 100 metres east of the fountain; this, he said, was sourced by Aqua Alsietina from the aqueduct Augustus himself had had built. Marliani puts it this way: "This water [Alsietina] was taken from the Via Claudia, 14 miles from Rome; you can see the conduit, which is almost 3 feet above the ground, in the Naumachia; then it is hidden once more and carried underground to the fountain in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, where it serves for public and private use. They say it is this water that Hadrian I had reinstalled".
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