| Talking statues & Fountains tips and photos posted by real travelers and Rome locals. • 52 Photos
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 La Fontana delle Tartughe
- Fountain of Turtles by Lacristina
If you go to see the three famous Carravaggio paintings on the life of St. Matthew at the church San Luigi dei Francesi (St. Louis of the French), you'll be in another della Porta building - well, the facade anyway.
This fountain was completed in 1585 and the water comes from the Acqua Vergine, said to contain the best water of all the aquaducts. It is so charming, it always makes me smile when I see it.
UPDATE, MARCH 5, 2006: VT member Baronedivandastad had been torturing me for months....he knew a secret about the fountain, but he wouldn't tell me until we met for dinner in Rome. We finally met and with great fanfare, he disclosed the secret at a wonderful VT dinner in Testaccio. I think I'll keep the tradition. No telling of the secret unless we have dinner together in Rome!
If you want to look for the Fontana delle Tartarughe, see my directions below, but PROMISE me, you'll wander after you find it. The neighborhood is great for wandering. You're close to the Jewish Ghetto, a perfect excuse to stop for some artichokes fried in the Roman Jewish tradition. Or kosher pizza - yes, really.
The fountain is in Piazza Mattei. Find "Largo Argentina," the excavated Roman site, which is is on the south side of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II (just to the west of Piazza Venezia ). Piazza Mattei is just south of that. Leave a Comment
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I've been wanting to photograph these four fountains for over a year and they were so dirty you couldn't see any detail. Well, it was worth the wait - here they are, clean and leisurely lounging at one of Rome's busiest intersections. You could really become a statistic trying to photography these guys from the street!
I pass them often as I walk from the top of Piazza Spagna at Trinia dei Monti to Santa Maria Maggiore and am just delighted today (August 27, 2006) to see them looking so spiffy - they even all look so much more pleased with themselves.
These Four Fountains represent the rivers Arno and Tiber and the Goddesses Juno and Diana:
Photo 1. River ARNO
Photo 2. Goddess JUNO
Photo 3. River TIBER
Photo 4. Goddess DIANA
Arno graces the complex facade of Borromini's Church San Carlo - dubbed San Carlino since they say the entire church is no larger than a pillar in Saint Peter's. The upper part was built after Borromini had already died.
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I happened upon this Rome site as I strolled in the Rome neighborhood where once lived. Nestled off Via Labicana just up the hill from the Colosseum on Via Pietro Verri (to your left walking up from the Colosseum), you will find the Piazza Isidre courtyard, steps, ruins and fountain with a detailed descriptive plaque. If you turn left from Via Labicana onto Via Pietro Verri it is right there - no walking, no searching. Many people walk up Labicana from the Colosseum to Via Merulana as two great basilicas are there - Santa Maria Maggiore at one end and San Giovanni at the other. The head and form of the statue Isidre is on display in the Capitolini Museum. There is also a charming restaurant right there at the Piazza - the Temple Isidre cafe. This Piazza was deserted on Saturday around noon, even though tourists were making their way up and down Via Labicana.
Legend of Iside - She was the spouse and sister of Osiride - they reigned in Egypt until Osiride was murdered by his brother. Iside searched for the coffin of Osiride which had been cast into the Nile. When she recovered the coffin, the culprit tore the body into 14 pieces and cast it into the sea. Iside's search of the sea recovered all the pieces of Osiride's body except one. She restored the life partially and Osiride continued to reign in the afterlife. Other Contact: Directions from Colosseum above
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 Pasquino - the leader of the
opposition by icunme
Nicholas V (1447-55) was one of the first popes whose action, the bloody repression of a conspiracy, was sharply criticized in a short poem.
Da quando è Niccolò papa e assassino,
abbonda a Roma il sangue e scarso è il vino.
Since Nicholas became pope and murderer,
blood is abundant in Rome while there is lack of wine.
The anonymous authors of the poems were often very close to the pope and had direct knowledge of confidential information.
In 1501 Cardinal Oliviero Carafa erected a small square near Piazza Navona and placed the torso of a statue representing Menelaus with the body of Patroclus. Each year on April 25 the Cardinal chaired a sort of Latin literary competition where poems were posted on the statue. Occasionally this happened outside the competition period as well. In this way Pasquino (the name given to the statue) became the first talking statue of Rome and it is still used from time to time for posting messages and claims. The little square is named after him Piazza di Pasquino and very fittingly the word "pasquinata" (pasquinade) is the word used for a short satire exhibited in a public place.
Pasquino soon became very popular and especially during the conclaves every night new gossips were posted to influence the election of the new pope. Adrianus VI (1522-23) considered throwing Pasquino into the Tiber and other popes had similar thoughts, but they feared to fall into ridicule by punishing a statue. Severe laws however were issued to stop the practice and Pasquino was put under surveillance. This led to the undesired result of multiplying the talking statues of Rome. (see tip re Marforio)
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Could it be that Il Facchino just talked too much and got punched in the face??
The only talking statue which is not an ancient Roman statue is Il Facchino (The Porter) which ought to be called L'Acquaiolo (The Seller of Water) which portrays a Renaissance seller of water with his little cask. This trade declined at the end of the XVIth century when Sixtus V started reactivating the ancient Roman aqueducts. The statue is located in Via del Corso near Palazzo Decarolis.
See other talking statue tips and the first - Pasquino for the amusing history of these very useful voices of dissent.
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 Marforio talks with
Pasquino by icunme
Marforio was the second. This colossal statue of a river-god at the foot of the Capitol Hill became soon a second Pasquino. It was named Marforio and it added zest to the lampooning of the popes as Pasquino and Marforio started talking to each other.
In 1679, with the excuse of preserving a fine antique statue, Marforio was incarcerated inside Palazzo Nuovo di Campidoglio.
Clemens XI (1700-21) was so interested in Urbino, that Pasquino and Marforio had this little conversation:
Marforio:- Dimmi: che fai Pasquino? - Pasquino, tell me, what are you doing?
Pasquino:- Eh, guardo Roma, chè non vada a Urbino. - I watch over Rome, to make sure it's not moved to Urbino.
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 OK, guys - here I come - don't
take off now....... by icunme
Winged seahorses appear to have risen from the shelter of the lower basin - as though coming through the water from the earth below. From a distance their heads appear to support the basin but a closer look discloses that they bear no weight. Their tails wind about the fountain base. Poised ready for flight - the enchanter's chisel has checked the horses in mid-ascent - Bernini's genius masters his fancy.
Sprays of water spout upward between their forefeet while the lower basin lies in the turf and the water fills it to the brim. The slightest breeze ruffles the surface, reflecting the sunshine like a broken mirror. Then from the centre of this pool, Bernini creates the rising fountain. Carved in travertine, the natural mellow tone seems to have been enriched rather than worn by the centuries of mild Italian weather.
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 Madama Lucrezia the
female voice of dissent by icunme
The most famous pasquinade is no doubt:
Quod non fecerunt Barbari
fecerunt Barberini.
What the Barbarians did not do (meaning to Rome)
the Barberini did.
The target of the pasquinade was Urbanus VIII Barberini (1623-44) who had used the bronze tiles of the Pantheon for the Canopy of St Peter's.
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Walking on Via Giulia toward the Tiber from Rome center just after we pass under the extraordinary vine covered bridge (another off the beaten path tip) built by the family Farnese, we find the Fontana del Mascherone (the Big Mask - do we wonder why it is so named?). Everyone agrees that this is one of the more bizaare monuments of Rome - and it does have a twin (not an identical twin - but a twin no less) in Spoletto (photo 2).
Another of the Farnese family gifts to Rome, no one seems to know who sculpted it - or at least no one in history cared to own up to the questionable artistry. It is said that the Farnese's had wine flowing from the fountain during their more notable soirees.
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This Fontanone del Gianicolo (Janiculum Fountain) was also known as the Fountain of acqua Paola with water from Lake Bracciano flowing through. It was commissioned by Pope Paolo V Borghese (1605-1621) to Giovanni Fontana and Flaminio Ponzio and completed by Carlo Fontana. With an enormous white marble basin, it boasts three wide niches along with two minor ones alongside. Part of the large inscription over the niches says that the pipes of the Alseitana were restored, when in fact, they were from Triana. The columns came from the old St. Peter's Basilica. The papal coat of arms and the figures beside it are the work of Ippolito Buzio. In 1690 Pope Alessandro VIII Ottoboni (1689-91) replaced the five shells at the base of the hydrants with the magnificent, large basin. He opened the space facing the botanical gardens behind with its central arch, thereby constructing the square from which one can view the extraordinary panorama of Rome.
This square is home to La Terrrazza restaurant - currently hosting the Heidsieck Champagne promotion until September 10, 2006 - and also a small theater for summer performing arts.
Location: Via Garibaldi going up the hill to Giancolo
Bus: #15 from Stazioni Giancolo takes you there
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