The Trevi represents the best known of the City’s fountains, at least in the minds of most tourists. The name, Trevi, comes from its location, ‘tre vie’, the junction of three roads. Inspired by a Bernini sketch and designed in 1732 by Niccolo Salvi, the fountain was inaugurated in 1762 after 30 years of fits and starts. The fountain marks a termination and “mostra” (terminal fountain showpiece) of the Aqua Vergine, long considered the source of the City’s softest and best tasting water. Although it began as the 18th century counterpart to the 16th century Aqua Paola on the Janiculum Hill, quickly did it become the world’s favorite fountain. Possessed of incomparable artistic beauty and charm, it stands out the best expression of the quintessential Baroque fountain: lively, dramatic, exuberant, dynamic, bold, allegorical, and illusionistic. Its rough-cut (rusticated) stone provides it with a natural appearance very similar to Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers (Quattro Fiumi) in Piazza Navona.
The material for the fountain is derived from travertine, a type of limestone quarried near Tiviloi, a hill town about twenty-five miles east of the City. Its principal figure, the statue of Oceanus, stands atop a shell-shaped chariot pulled by sea horses accompanied by tritons and forms the center of the setting. In niches on either side of Oceanus, the statue of Abundance spills water from her urn and that of Good Health holds a cup from which a snake drinks.
The architect Pietro da Cortona brilliantly attached the fountain to the
façade of the Poli Palace.
Its façade features a wide triumphal arch and large Corinthian pilasters which link its two main storeys. The Tritons and horses provide symmetrical balance to the entire composition whose overall theme is the Taming of the Waters.
Above the niches are bas reliefs depicting the legend of the virgin who directed Roman soldiers to the spring from which flows the water of the Aqua Virgine. Dominating the whole structure from above is the marble coat of arms of its 18th century benefactor, Pope Clement XII.
On the far upper right side of the fountain rests a large, misplaced, sculpted vase that resembles a shaving cup. Legend has it that the owner of the barbershop across the street complained often and loudly about the ugliness of the structure during its construction imaged in the mirror of his shop. In response, the architect, Salvi, simply added the travertine shaving mug, not so arbitrarily, to guarantee that neither barber nor his clientele would ever again be distracted by the offending artifact. Because the cup seems to the locals to resemble one of the cards in a Tarot pack, they refer to it as the ‘ace of hearts’( asso di coppe), even though it actually represents a replica of the soap jar on the barber’s sign outside the shop.
Despite the opinion of the barber, the great, 19th century, American author Nathaniel Hawthorne (Scarlet Letter) regarded it as one of the most magnificent pieces of art contrived by human hand.
Refurbished several times in its history, the fountain underwent a complete restoration in 2015. It has been featured in many movies (Three Coins in the Fountain) but gained traction in the public imagination with Federico Felini’s famous film, La Dolce Vita.
Traditionally tourists throw coins into the fountain on the eve of their departure from the City with the hope of a speedy return to the City.
Coins tossed into the fountain are donated to charity, over a million and a half dollars yearly.
Across the street from the fountain on the Via della Stamperia 89 sits the Antiqua Farmacia Pesci founded 1522 and created by papacy because of its proximity to the nearby Palazzo Quirinale, the summer residence of popes until 1870.
This pharmacy often distributed medicines to the needy. Today it retains its 16th century appearance and its original décor and furnishings (mortar jars, sandalwood boxes, ceramic jars). Benvenuto Cellini carved in wood one of its prized possessions, a 16th century unicorn head, in exchange for medicine.
