JUBILEE CULTURAL ROUTES

Fountain of the Tortoises

You are along the route: AQUEDUCTS AND FOUNTAINS. THE MARVEL OF WATER

DGT023225
Piazza Mattei
www.sovraintendenzaroma.it
Always visible.

Built around a design by Giacomo Della Porta between 1581 and 1588, the Fountain of the Tortoises is the only late-Renaissance fountain in Rome in which the sculpted bronze element prevails over the architectural part, comprising a variety of coloured marble. The four bronze cherubs with their feet on the dolphins are by the Florentine sculptor Taddeo Landini. The water flows out of the mouths of the dolphins into four large African marble shells. The four bronze tortoises on the edge of the upper basin, attributed to Bernini, were added after the original work was completed, during the seventeenth century restoration. They were stole several times, and luckily recovered, and have now been replaced by copies, the originals being preserved in the Capitoline Museums.

Picture by permission from Roma Capitale-Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali
Further reproduction prohibited

How to get the step: Fountain of the Tortoises

Piazza Mattei, 00186 Roma, Italy

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