Name:

1. The Trevi Fountain

Revise the chart with the characteristics of the Renaissance and the
Baroque. What style do you think the Trevi Fountain is? Do you think
the Baroque really expresses something essentially different from the
Renaissance?

Key Vocabulary
- Aqueduct: a structure for carrying water across land, especially one like a
high bridge with many arches that carries pipes or a canal across a valley
- Neptune: God of the sea
- Triton: Neptunes son
- Relief: projection of figures from a flat background, as in sculpture or in a
painting or drawing.
- Stage: a raised platform on which theatrical performances are presented.
- Quirinal Palace: historic building in Rome, currently the official residence of
the President of the Italian Republic and house to the Popes and Kings in the
past.
1. Read the following text and then fill in the form below with the
information missing. Write complete sentences!

THE TREVI FOUNTAIN

The fountain is 26,30 m high, 49,15 wide. Every day it spills 80.000 cubic meter of water. The
design of the trevi fountain is based on three architectural elements: a faade, statues and a
sea reef.

In the middle there is the statue of Ocean carved by Pietro Bracci. The body is muscular
inclining to fatness. He has long and abundant beard. His look is majestic and gentle at the
same time. In his right hand he holds the wand in act of command. His left hand holds a cloth
around his pelvis to cover his nudity. He is carried on his triumphal chariot by two horses
pulled by two Tritons. One horse is restless, one is calm. One triton is strong and young, the
other one is older and holds a twisted shell to announce their passage. Ocean is also standing
in the middle of a tryumphal arch.

In the left part of the arch there is the statue of Abundance holding the horn. At its feet a
toppled vase lies by a source of water. Above there is a relief showing Agrippa commanding
his generals to build the aqueduct. On the right there is the statue of Health, crowned by a
wreath of laurel and holding a cup a snake drinks from. Above the statue, there is a relief
showing a Virgin lady showing soldiers the source of water.

The four allegorical statues located on the attic were carved by Agostino Corsini, Bernardino
Ludovisi, Francesco Queirolo and Bartolomeo Pincellotti. They represent the good effects of
rain on Earth fertility and the four major elements that depend on water.

On the attic, the first statue on the left holds the horn and it is a symbol of the Abundance of
fruits. The second one is holding ears of wheat and represents Fertility of Crops. The third one
is holding a cup and bunches of grapes symbolising the Products of Autumn. The last one
portraits the Joy of Prairies and Gardens and is all adorned with flowers.

The decorations of the fountain also feature around 30 species of plants located where the
environment is more suitable to them. There is a wild fig rooted in the top balaustrade;
a capper is hanging on the Poli Palace faade cornering with Piazza dei Crociferi; a bush
ofmulleins; four ivy shoots; a prickly pear cactus; marsh marygold and lake reeds;
an oak stumb below the statue of health; an artichoke; a vine with four bunches of grapes;
a taro floating on water;a fig hiding below the jar; a cymbalaria on the right side facing via
della stamperia; a group of evergreen plans by the end of the travertine rocks.

There are also some animals: a snail lies on the marsh marygold and a lizard is hiding in a
ravine of the walls. On the right side of the sea cliff there is the Coat of Arms of Monsignor
Gian Galeazzo Caracciolo, President of the fountain project for some years. It features a lion
and the particular type of hat of Papal Court prelates.
The church facing the fountain is the Church of SS Vincent and Anastasius. It was completed
in 1650 by architect Martino Longhi the Younger and located in close proximity to the Quirinal
Palace, for which it served as parish church. It is notable as the place where the precordia and
embalmed hearts of 25 popes from Sixtus V to Leo XIII are preserved.

Originally Roman Catholic, since 2002 the church has been used by the Saints Cyril and
Methodius Bulgarian Orthodox parish in Rome. The faade features 18 columns so that it
earns the nickname of Reed Bed.

HISTORY

The Trevi fountain is a imposing fountain that served as a display of an ancient roman
aqueduct termination. The aqueduct is the Virgo - Virgin in English - Acqueduct constructed
by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa around 19 B:C: Agrippa was the son-in-law and the favorite
general of Emperor Octavian Augustus. The aqueduct was 21 km long but 19 were
underground.

The aqueduct was built by Agrippa to supply the thermal baths he built in the Campus
Martius, by the Pantheon. There was a fountain at the end of the aqueduct already then. The
display spilling water was located on the site of the actual Church of St. Ignatius.

The aqueduct takes its name from a virgin lady that the Roman soldiers met when they were
thirsty and tired. She led them to a source of water to restore. That source was in the Ager
Locullanus, the land between the Tiburtina road and the Collatina road, two of the many
roads that led to Rome. That source still today supplies the aqueduct.

In the 4th Century there were in Rome 1352 fountains. The aqueduct was damaged by the
invasion of the Ostrogoths led by king Vitigis in 537. After the barbaric invasions the last
portion of the acqueduct was abandoned and all the medieval restorations did not continue
further than the trivium crossing.

Starting from the early renaissance the Popes start to decorate the end of the aqueducts they
restored with large fountains that were richly decorated.

In 1730 Pope Clemens XII established a contest to design a new fountain. Many important
architects participated and all the projects where exhibited in the Papal Palace on the Quirinal
Hill. Against all the odds Nicola Salvi won the contest. His project was the least expensive.

Clemens XII died in 1740. The new Pope Benedict XIV continued the work of his predecessor
and in August 1743 the first water finally spilled from the fountain. Nicola Salvi died in 1751
and Giuseppe Pannini was appointed director of the project. Clemens XIII officially completed
and inaugurated the new Trevi Fountain. The population of Rome at that time was around
160.000 people.

ICONOGRAPHY
The most accepted explanation for the word Trevi is that it derives for the Latin
word Trivium that indicates a crossing of three streets. The Roman Goddes Trivia, epithet of
Diana, the greek Hecate, was protecting the streets and often her statue featuring three
heads was standind at the crossings. The three streets of Trevi are Via De' Crocicchi, Via Poli
and Via Delle Muratte.

The main statue of the fountain does not represent Neptune, but Ocean. In fact, Neptune has
often a triton in his hands and a dolphin following him. Instead, the statue is an image of
Ocean, the personification of a immense river that flows around the earth and from which all
streams of water derive.

Ocean was the son of Sky and Vesta. From his union with Thetis rivers and sources of water
were born. The beard of Ocean is symbol of wisdom and power. The wand is short and thick,
similar to the ones held by Roman emperors portrayed in many ancient coins. The restless
horse represents the violent strength of the sea. The clam horse is instead symbol of
tranquillity of the sea.

The statue of Abundance holds the symbol of plenty, a horn filled with fruits and products.
Health is crowned with wreath of laurel, Apollo's plant. Apollo was the the father of
Aesculapius, god of Medicine. Health was the daughter of Aesculapius. She was the goddess
of health, cleanliness and sanitation. Her name is the source of the word "hygiene". Statues
of Hygieia were created by Scopas, Bryaxis and Timotheus, among others. Hygieia was often
depicted as a young woman feeding a large snake that was wrapped around her body or
drinking from a jar that she carried.

The two statues of Fames flanking the Papal Crest on the Attic are symbol of future
recognition of the Pope that restored the fountain for the people utility.

In Roman mythology fame is personification of public acclaim and usually was portrayed with
a trumpet in her hand. When she has two trumpets, one served to announce fabrications, the
other one truths.

Triton is a Greek god, the messenger of the sea. He is the son of Neptune, god of the sea,
and Amphitrite, whose herald he is. He is usually represented as a merman, having the upper
body of a human and the tail of a fish. Like his father, he carried a trident.

However, Triton's special attribute was a twisted conch shell, on which he blew like a trumpet
to calm or raise the waves. Its sound was so terrible, that when loudly blown, it put the
giants to flight, who imagined it to be the roar of a mighty wild beast.

Source: http://www.trevifountain.net/description.htm
 TREVI FOUNTAIN
1. Type

2. Data
- Title:
- Dimensions:
- Years:
- Location:
- Artists Names:

3. Description

4. Style

5. Context

6. Function or Purpose

7. Symbolism

8. Importance of the building

9. Personal Opinion