Next to the Madonna dei Monti Church in Rome
Following the fountains down the old conduit of the Aqua Felice water works, we now descend from the large and airy Piazza del Quirinale to a completely different area and environment, the heart of the extremely crowded district known as ‘Monti’. Here, alongside the church of Madonna dei Monti [the Madonna of the Hills], in a narrow little square, there is a fountain on an octagonal base with four steps and a travertine pool (also octagonal) meagerly decorated with crests of Sixtus V alternating with the shield of the Roman People [SPQR]. In the center of the fountain, two basins of different sizes are raised one above the other and, on the underside of the larger one, water pours into the pool from four statuary masks vaguely resembling the huge masks of the fountains at the Pantheon and in Villa Borghese. An inscription, now partly illegible, records a fountain restoration at the time of Innocent XI (1680) and another at the expense of the City Authorities, in 1880. This fountain, now in such a dilapidated condition, was constructed in 1588‑89 to a rather crude and simple design by Jacopo della Porta, probably inspired by the older style of fountain such as the one in Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere, which had not yet been rebuilt.
The simplicity of this fountain, and perhaps also the haste with which the fountain was built, were no doubt due in part to the extremely crowded zone crammed with poor houses; the vicinity of the Neophytes or Converts’ College – which already existed in the buildings adjacent to the church – was another determining factor in choosing this site for the fountain. In fact, some early 17th century prints use the name "Converts’ Fountain".
It will help you to understand the origin of the name of this very modest fountain if I refer here to something written by Fanucci in 1602. "Although there have always been Jews who have converted to the Catholic Faith, there has nevertheless been no one proper place where they could be received and receive instruction, but they have always had to go here and there." As this did not suit the "compassion of Rome, head of the Christian Religion which, like a loving mother must open her heart to all comers who desire to suckle on her pure milk" (Piazza, Eusevologio), in 1540 Paul III decided to bring the male "converts" together at S. Giovanni de’ Mercato, at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. At the same time, he "erected another Monastery in the Monti district, close to Torre de’ Conti, to accommodate the girls and women who want to convert to the Holy Catholic Faith and to take instruction in the articles of the Holy Christian Religion; then, being instructed and firm in the said Faith, they get themselves baptised in the fountain and, when the women have married Christians, they are allowed to leave with their husbands"
Now that I’ve explained the old name for the fountain at Santa Maria dei Monti, I hope you will bear with me a little longer if I ask you to read the following report by the "duty corporal" at the Monti barracks in 1806: "A man with two horses that were drinking from the fountain was arrested, it being the order of the Capitol that no one may put any kind of grass into the fountain and no one may water horses in it's waters. The man and the two horses remain under arrest at these barracks" (Arch. Capitol., cr. 18, voi. 49, p. 411).
I’ve spoken so often already (and shall do again) about the edicts and proclamations regarding the cleanliness of the fountains that I thought I should quote the above to get rid, once and for all, of the idea that none of them did any good. It’s not much, but as you can see, in three hundred years or so of similarly strict regulations relating to the fountains, at least one person was punished; or, at least, would have been punished, if – as the next page of the document shows – the man had not promptly called in a lawyer (who just happened to be handy) to defend him; which he did by demonstrating that his client "had not given a drink to his horses from the fountain, but only to himself". More on the Fountain of Madonna dei Monti