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Trip ideas  /  4 days in Rome  /  Trevi Fountain
Trevi Fountain, Rome, Lazio
Historic site · Rome, Lazio

Trevi Fountain

Water found in 19 BC.A contest Salvi initially lost.A barber's sign behind a vase.Finished in 1762.

Photo: NikonZ7II, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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The first

The water has come from the same aqueduct since 19 BC

The fountain marks the end of the Acqua Vergine, the revived Aqua Virgo, whose source Roman technicians found in 19 BC, supposedly with the help of a virgin. It served Rome for more than 400 years, and the aqueduct is still in use today.

The contest

The designer lost the contest, then got the job anyway

In 1730 Pope Clement XII organized a contest in which Nicola Salvi initially lost to Alessandro Galilei. Because of the outcry in Rome over a Florentine having won, Salvi was awarded the commission anyway, and work began in 1732.

The vase

A sculpted vase hides a barber's sign

Nicola Salvi did not want a barber's unsightly sign to spoil the ensemble, so he hid it behind a sculpted vase. Romans call it the asso di coppe, the Ace of Cups, because of its resemblance to a Tarot card.

The finish

Finished in 1762, and the largest Baroque fountain

Giuseppe Pannini finished the fountain in 1762, and Pope Clement XIII opened it on 22 May. Most of it is travertine quarried near Tivoli. It stands 26.3 metres high and is the largest Baroque fountain in the world.

26.3 mhigh, and 49.15 m wide, the largest Baroque fountain in the world

The coins

A coin over the shoulder is meant to bring you back

Tradition says that throwing a coin into the fountain before leaving favors a return to the city. Coins are meant to be thrown with your back to the fountain, using the right hand over the left shoulder. The money thrown in is donated to the Caritas association for charity work.

Day 3, evening

It comes after Pantheon.

More stories from this trip idea

The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Trevi Fountain, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.

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