Piazza Gioacchino Belli, a small piazza and grassy park, sits on the Trastevere side of the Tiber River near the Ponte Garibaldi. Its center focuses around an interesting monument, a fountain, dedicated to Belli, one of Rome’s most famous dialect poets and writer of sonnets (2,279).
These typically paint a vivid and colorful picture of Rome in the first half of the 19th century. Belli’s poetic language has been described as humorous, satirical, vulgar, realistic, acerbic, rhythmic, and astute.
Financed by popular subscription and erected to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the poet’s death, the monument was created by Michele Tripisciano in 1913 and placed here because of Belli’s affection for Trastevere, reciprocated by affection of the locals for him.
