Fontana dell'Acqua Paola - The Fontanone

The Fountain (Il Fontanone) of the Acqua Paola is located in Rome, at the point where the Via Garibaldi reaches the top of the Janiculum, just before Porta San Pancrazio.

This is the final exhibition of the "Acqua Paola" aqueduct, restored between 1608 and 1610 by Pope Paul V. It is the "fountain" referred to by Antonello Venditti in the song "Roma Capoccia" (1972).

The inscription reads:

PAVLVS QVINTVS PONTIFEX MAXIMVS

AQVAM IN AGRO BRACCIANENSIS

SALVBERRIMIS AND FONTIBVS COLLECTAM

VETERIBVS AQVAE ALSIETINAE DVCTIBVS RESTITVTIS

NOVISQVE ADDITIS

XXXV AB MILLIARIO DVXIT

The inscription is completed by another, under the frame of the attic:

YEAR OF DOMINI MDCXII PONTIFICATVS SVI SEPTIMO

In reality, the text contains a historical-archaeological error, as the restored aqueduct was not the "Alsietino", but the "Traiano", which already at the time of construction had incorporated and replaced the other. The error is reiterated in a similar inscription placed on an arch supporting the aqueduct that crosses the Via Aurelia, not far from the fountain, in which there is an erroneous mention of the restoration of the aqueduct built by the emperor Augustus (the "Alsietino ", precisely).

Vintage print. Originally the fountain had five basins corresponding to the arches.

As was the custom of the time, much of the work is made with marble "taken" from the forum of Nerva. The six columns that adorn it - four of red granite and two lateral ones of gray granite - came from the ancient basilica of San Pietro.

They rest on very high bases and the capitals are placed to support the architrave.

Map: Fontana dell'Acqua Paola - The Fontanone