The History of Outdoor Fountains

Himself a learned man, Pope Nicholas V led the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 till 1455 and was responsible for the translation of hundreds of ancient documents from their original Greek into Latin. He undertook the embellishment of Rome to make it into the worthy capital of the Christian world. Restoration of the Acqua Vergine, a ruined Roman aqueduct which had carried clean drinking water into the city from eight miles away, began in 1453 at the bidding of the Pope. The ancient Roman tradition of building an imposing commemorative fountain at the location where an aqueduct arrived, also known as a mostra, was resurrected by Nicholas V. The present-day site of the Trevi Fountain was once occupied by a wall fountain commissioned by the Pope and constructed by the architect Leon Battista Alberti. The aqueduct he had refurbished included modifications and extensions which eventually allowed it to supply water to the Trevi Fountain as Related Site well as the renowned baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona.