So in 1951 the first fountain was finally built in this overpopulated district. This district was the area where all the Jewish families lived in Rome. The fountain was located in front of the Jewish structure, “The Gateway to the Ghetto”, basically the division that separated this small neighborhood from the rest of the city.
We also know that other fountains were built in the area around the Via del Progresso judging from this proclamation of August 20th, 1614: “all and every person, men and women, Christians and Jews, adults and children, are prohibited and ordered not to dare or presume on any pretext whatever to wash clothes, entrails or anything else in the fountains inside the Jewish Ghetto, nor to throw in rubbish or other foul objects, nor urinate or do other foul or filthy things therein nor within the space of two 'canes' around (the length of a "cane" varied in different cities), the penalty for contravention being 10 scudi on each occasion, to be applied (paid) half to the accuser, whose name shall be kept secret and the other half to the office of the Street Supervisors.
Nor shall any of the a forenamed dare to damage the said fountains, nor their ornaments and conduits, or break down the walls thereof to great or little extent, even through play or in pretending to play, or on any other occasion, or they will be penalized. You are hereby warned that such penalties shall be exacted on the sworn evidence of a single witness, even one who is a Jew."
