The still present obelisk is the main decorative feature of the fountain
Following the death of Urban VIII in 1644, the next year Innocent X (Pamphili) proposed a more dignified arrangement of Piazza Navona, including the Four Rivers Fountain, where his family had a luxurious residence. The main feature of the new arrangement was to be the construction of a fountain in the center of the square, and one of considerable size to judge from the 150 180 ounces of water he wanted to draw from the Aqua Vergine conduit before it reached the Trevi Fountain. In order to understand the significance and importance the Pope ascribed to the fountain he had in mind, it is as well to remember that he must have been aware that the extraction of so much water would considerably impoverish the Trevi Fountain and would worsen the age-old problem of what to do with such a huge façade. Therefore, when planning the Four Rivers Fountain (the only one built during his pontificate) Innocent X also intended to transfer the display water feature of the Aqua Vergine into this square, right in front of his residence, so that the ancient and one might say glorious Trevi Fountain would become of minor importance. An important factor in this affair was that instead of allowing Bernini to direct the work on the new conduits (he was in disgrace because he was already the favorite of the Barberini), Innocent X appointed his rival, Francesco Borromini, to carry out the task. As if that weren’t enough, Baldinucci relates that for the four rivers fountain, the pontiff had the leading architects of Rome make a number of designs, without any instructions at all being given to Bernino. All these designs (and they may not all be known) have the present obelisk as the main decorative feature of the fountain. This is the obelisk that used to lie, in several pieces, on the site of the ancient Circus of Maxentius, near the church of St. Sebastian on the Appian Way.
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