Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain is a sculptural fountain ensemble located in the city of Rome. The fountain is situated at the junction of three streets, marking the terminal point of the Aqua Virgo, one of the ancient aqueducts that supplied water to Rome. In 19 BC, supposedly with the help of a virgin, Roman technicians located a source of pure water just 22 km from the city (a scene depicted on the current facade of the fountain). This Aqua Virgo ran through Rome's shortest aqueduct directly to the Baths of Agrippa and was used for over four hundred years. The final blow to the urban life of late classical Rome was the breaking of the aqueducts by the besieging Goths. Medieval Romans were reduced to drawing water from polluted wells and the Tiber River.

The Roman custom of building a beautiful fountain at the end of aqueducts that brought water to the city was revived in the 15th century, with the Renaissance. In 1453, Pope Nicholas V completed the repair of the Aqua Virgo aqueduct and built a simple basin, designed by the humanist architect Leon Battista Alberti, to announce the arrival of water.

In 1625, Pope Urban VIII, finding the previous fountain insufficiently dramatic, asked Bernini to sketch possible renovations, but the project was abandoned when the pope died. Bernini's lasting contribution was to change the location of the fountain to the other side of the square so that it faced the Quirinal Palace (so that the pope could also see and enjoy it). Although Bernini's project was discarded in favor of Salvi's, there are many touches of the former in the fountain as it was built. There is also an earlier striking and influential model made by Pietro da Cortona.

The Trevi Fountain was completed in 1762 by Giuseppe Pannini, who replaced the soft allegories present with flat sculptures of Agrippa and Trivia, the Roman goddess.