The Trevi Fountain: History, Art, Myths, Legends and More!

Hey, it's Elissa from Romewise, your go-to guide to Rome, here today at the Trevi Fountain to talk to you about the Trevi Fountain. So who built it and when? What do all the statues symbolize? What's the building behind it? What do they do with all the money that people throw in there every day? Where does the water come from? For that, we've got to go back more than 2,000 years and at the end of this video, I'm going to tell you how you can visit the source of the water underground. Ready? Here we go. So where does this water come from? It actually comes from an aqueduct that was made in 19 BC. If you go to the Pantheon, you're going to see written across the top Agrippa. That is the name of Augustus' right-hand man, Emperor Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. Agrippa brought this water This aqueduct is the only aqueduct from ancient Rome still functioning today. It's the only aqueduct that never stopped working. In the year 537, the Ostrogoths, one of the Germanic tribes from the north of Europe, came and sacked Rome, pretty much razed it to the ground, destroying almost all of the aqueducts, except this one. Now, when the Ostrogoths sacked Rome, they actually broke apart the pieces that brought the water all the way to near the Pantheon, and we were left with just this little spout of water coming out right around here, out of a lead pipe, basically. So for many years in the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, this was the only source of clean drinking water for the whole city of Rome. Yeah, other than this, the Romans basically got water out of the Tiber River. Yuck. In 1453, Pope Nicholas V, he decided to sort of beautify this little source of water, and so that was pretty much the Trevi Fountain for a couple of hundred years. And in the 1600s, we have Pope Urban VIII Barberini. He is a guy who you may have heard of because he's a super fan of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, one of the foremost sculptors that you're going to see around Rome from the Baroque era. So the Barberini Pope asked Bernini to come up with some plans for a new fountain, and Bernini went to task. He came up with some designs. He actually went so far as to get rid of a few houses here, sort of clearing out a space to make it into a little bit of a square, and he made two big basins, one large basin and another smaller one inside of it. And that's as far as he got, because the Pope had other priorities. He was off waging war against the Duce of Parma, and he basically used all the papal money, so this project of making a new fountain here sort of ran out of funds, and Bernini had to stop the project. So that's as far as his contribution goes, although because of his innovative designs on other fountains in Rome, you can see his influence in this design. We've got a lot of movement, a lot of whimsy, nature. That's part of the Baroque style, and you see some of that influence from Bernini here, besides just the basin that he originally designed. Pope Clement XII finally decided, let's get this thing done, and he held a contest for what would become the new Trevi Fountain, and guess which design won? Well, it was this one by a young architect named Nicola Salvi. There's a story that there was another winner whose last name was Galilei, related to the famous Galileo Galilei, from Florence, and I guess the Romans were in a bit of an uproar about this, about a Florentine designing such a monumental fountain in Rome, and so the Pope said, okay, never mind, sorry, scratch that, let's give the job to Nicola Salvi. Nicola Salvi is the one that we credit today with the design of this fountain, even though, unfortunately, he didn't live to see it finished. So the guy in the middle is Oceanus, who represents all the Earth's waters in the form of a river that goes all the way around the globe. A lot of people think that's Neptune, but it's not Neptune. Neptune would have a triton and a dolphin, or sort of fish-like dolphin. You can see there are tritons, which are sea gods, under Oceanus, and they are trying to reign in those horses. One of the horses is pretty calm, and he's being easily reigned in by the triton on the right-hand side, and on the left-hand side, you can see a pretty energetic horse, and the triton is having a really hard time managing him. That's basically to represent the moods of the seas. There are two statues on either side of Oceanus. This one is Abundance, you can see from the conicopia, that always represents Abundance, and the one on the right-hand side of Oceanus represents Health. You can see the serpent and the spear that represent medicine, or health. This bas-relief above Abundance shows the story of Agrippa ordering his men to build the aqueduct, the aqua virgo, that will bring the water into Rome and feed the baths behind the Pantheon. And above Health, we have this bas-relief, which is telling the story of the young virgin maiden that showed the Roman soldiers where the spring was. That's the name of this aqueduct, basically, the aqua virgo, aqua vergine, which is for virgin water, supposedly because of this story, this myth. And as we move up, you're going to see on the top of the fountain, there are four statues. They represent all of the abundance that water can bring. So let's take a look at them. First, we've got the Abundance of Fruit, she's carrying a cornucopia full of fruit. And next to her is the Abundance of Wheat, of Crops. She's actually holding a bit of wheat there. And from the side, you can see the detail, it is really amazing. Next is the Abundance of the Fall Harvest, Grapes, Wine. And finally, on the right end, we've got the Abundance of Flowers. So these are all crops that lots of water can bring to the earth. And that's what the Trevi Fountain is celebrating is the abundance of water and the health of water. It is also the largest fountain in Rome. So the Trevi Fountain is made of travertine, which is a porous stone. We have a lot of that near Rome in Tivoli. And that's the same stone that was used to build the Colosseum. You're actually going to see this stone a lot in Rome. Trevi Fountain is made mostly of that. It's not a marble. It's a kind of a semi-marble stone. The building behind the Trevi Fountain is a ducal palace, like it was the palace of a duke who came from the town of Poli. So it's called Palazzo Poli. So it's actually a working building and people work there. What is the myth about the three coins in the fountain? Made famous by a movie by that name. So if you throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain, taking your right hand over your left shoulder, you will return to Rome. You'll be guaranteed to return to Rome. That is kind of actually up to you. If you throw in two coins, always with your right hand over your left shoulder, then you will fall in love, supposedly with somebody you meet at the Trevi Fountain. Is that true? I don't know. It happened to a friend of mine. And if you throw in three coins, then you will get married to that person that you met and fell in love with at the Trevi Fountain. So is that true? See the movie and you'll find out. Are you wondering what they do with the money that people throw in there every day? There's about 3,000 euros worth of coins thrown into the Trevi Fountain every day. And you'll be glad to know that money goes to Caritas, which is an Italian agency that helps needy families buy groceries. Okay, heading away from the Trevi Fountain by just a few meters and walking just right behind me there. And you can visit where the water comes from that feeds the Trevi Fountain. It's not the only fountain this water feeds though. It actually feeds water for fountains all over Rome, including Piazza del Popolo, the Barcaccia Fountain at the Spanish Step. So just around the corner, here we are. And coming right over here to the Città dell'Acqua, the City of Water, Vicus Caprarius, which was the name of the street in ancient Rome where this was. And you can head in and it's four euros. You can visit anytime and go down there and see the water source of the Trevi Fountain. Thanks so much for watching. I hope you've enjoyed this video all about visiting the Trevi Fountain here in Rome. I've got another video all about what you can do in this neighborhood. Believe it or not, it is full of things to do. Art museums, churches, underground sites, things to do with kids, rooftop bars, you name it. I've got a whole lot of information on this webpage and also on the other video here on this channel. So please hit that like button, subscribe, and we will see you at the next video. Ciao for now!