Fontana di Trevi

Name: Fonatana di Trevi

Date: 1732-1762

Artist: Nicola Salvi

Location: Piazza di Trevi, Rome, Italy

Approximate Dimensions of entire fountain: 85 by 65 ft

Medium: marble

Sources of info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevi_Fountain

http://www.garden-fountains.com/articles/trevi-fountain.html

Picture taken by: Kate Tricarico

Significance of the work:

The Trevi Founatin marks the ending point of one of the ancient Roman Aqueducts known today as Aqua Vergine. In 1730 Pope Clement XII declared a contest to determine who would design and build the fountain. Nicola Salvi originally lost to Alessandro Galilei, but the Roman populous was outraged that a Florentine had won and therefore commission was granted to Salvi. It took thirty years for Salvi’s design to come to completion and Pietro Bracci’s sculpture of Oceanus was the final piece to be set inside the fountain in 1762.

As legend has it, if visitors to the Trevi Fountain throws a coin into Oceanus’s waters, they are ensured a return to Italy and to Rome. Yet other interpretations hold that if two coins thrown into the waters they will ensure an upcoming marriage and if three coins are tossed into the wet depths, they will lead to a divorce or breakup. According to statistics, approximately $3500 is thrown into the Trevi Fountain each day and the coins are collected at night, and used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's poorer population.