How to get the step: Fontana della Navicella
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You are along the route: AQUEDUCTS AND FOUNTAINS. THE MARVEL OF WATER
Via della Navicella
www.sovraintendenzaroma.it
Always visible.
The fountain was built in 1931 using the small marble vessel which was already here, built in 1518-19, possibly based on a drawing by Andrea Sansovino, on the orders of Poe Leo X Medici (whose coat of arms is on the base). The small vessel, a Roman galley, is inspired by the ancient vessel discovered in the vicinity of the Colosseum, according to legend, an offering to the goddess Isis, the protector of seafarers, made by some sailors who had escaped disaster. Remembered here in the fifteenth century, the vessel also gives its name to the church of Santa Maria in Domnica, or alla Navicella. In its current position, with the bow in the form an animal head, it is placed on a base inside an oval basin, in a flowerbed.
Picture by permission from Roma Capitale-Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali
Further reproduction prohibited
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