13 Fountains to Explore in Italy

The Fountain of Four Rivers is a fountain in Rome, located in the Piazza di Spagna, at the foot of the stairway of Trinita dei Monti. Commissioned by Pope Urban VIII Barberini and designed by Pietro Bernini, the fountain sits at the base of Rome’s Spanish Steps and is a popular gathering spot in the square. The fountain was built in the style of sumptuous Baroque with travertine as its material. It is one of the favourite destinations for tourists and also for the locals too.

The Fountain of the Four Rivers is also known as The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi and is located in the Piazza Navona in Rome. The fountain was an important source of potable water for the locals before the days of indoor plumbing, but even more importantly it was a grandiose monument to the power and glory of the pope and his family.

A beautiful 17th-century fountain which was located in Rome, in the Piazza Barberini, close to the Palazzo Barberini entrance, which now houses the GNAA (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica or National Gallery of Ancient Art. The fountain was executed in travertine in 1642–43. At its center rises a larger than lifesize muscular Triton, a minor sea god of ancient Greco-Roman legend, depicted as a merman kneeling on the sum of four dolphin tailfins.

A beautiful fountain in Rome at the northern end of Piazza Navona. The monumental complex was designed in 1574 by Giacomo della Porta, who had also designed the basin of the Fontana del Moro. The work was sponsored by Pope Gregory XIII. The fountain was used as a washbasin for laundry and market goods as well. It bears an image of Neptune, god of the sea, fighting with an octopus together with the sea nymphs.

The Pretoria fountain was built in 1554 by Francesco Camilliani in Florence, but in 1581 it was moved to Piazza Pretoria in Palermo. Initially placed in the garden of the Florentine palace of the brother of the Grand Duchess Eleonora of Toledo, thanks to the intervention of her brother Don Garçia, the first viceroy of Sicily and governor of Palermo, it was put up for sale for the Senate of Palermo. Purchased from the rich city of Palermo, then dismantled and shipped, twenty years later, to Paler

The Fonte Aretusa is a mirror of water on the island of Ortigia , in the oldest part of the Sicilian city of Syracuse . Its origin is the development of one of the many outlets of the water table located in the Syracusan area, the aquifer that also feeds the Ciane river on the opposite side of the port. It has a double circular shape, with a circular structure inside, that is a double concentric circle.

One of the beautiful and magnificent Fonte Gaia fountain, designed by Jacopo Della Quercia around 1419, adorns the higher part of Piazza del Campo. The fountain stands on the exact spot occupied by a previously existing fountain in 1346. The water that feeds the fountain travels from a spring in the nearby countryside through 25 kilometers of underground passages known as Bottini, built in the Middle Ages and named thus on account of their barrel vaulting.

The fountain of Neptune, nicknamed al Żigànt in dialect by the Bolognese because of the size of the statue of Neptune, is located in Bologna in Piazza del Nettuno. The over-life-size bronze figure of the god Neptune was completed and fixed in place around 1567. The statue was an early design by Giambologna, who had submitted a model for the Fountain of Neptune in Florence but had lost the commission to Baccio Bandinelli.

This beautiful Fountain of Neptune was located Right in the center of Florence's Piazza della Signoria, just under the Palazzo Vecchio. The fountain was commissioned to built in honor of the marriage of the second Grand Duke of Tuscany Francesco I De’ Medici to the Grand Duchess Johanna of Austria. The Fountain of Neptune in Florence represents several stories from both Greek and Roman mythology. It was one of the main attractions in this area.

The fountain of four continents was created in 1750 by Giovanni Mazzoli. The sculpture is a symbol of four then known parts of the world: Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. The fountain was an important source of potable water for the locals before the days of indoor plumbing, but even more importantly it was a grandiose monument to the power and glory of the pope and his family.

Porcellino meaning ‘the little pig’, is a bronze fountain decoration that eats the coins of visitors who come asking for good luck and usually rub the beast’s snout when they’re finished. it was mainly based on a tradition. The fountain figure was sculpted and cast by Baroque master Pietro Tacca. The boar stands over a pool containing representations of tortoises, snakes, frogs, snails, lizards and crabs. In front is a cast iron fountain receptacle.

The centrepiece of Piazza IV Novembre, the delicate pink-and-white marble Fontana Maggiore was designed by Fra Bevignate and built by father-and-son team Nicola and Giovanni Pisano between 1275 and 1278. Some 50 bas-reliefs and 24 statues grace the two-tier polygonal basin, representing scenes from the Old Testament, the founding of Rome, the seven 'liberal arts', the signs of the zodiac, a griffin and a lion. The fountain inspired Jacopo di Grondalo for the construction of the fountain Sturina

Trevi Fountain is a beautiful fountain in Rome that is considered a late Baroque masterpiece and is arguably the best known of the city’s numerous fountains. It was designed by Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini in 1762. According to legend, those who toss coins into its waters will return to Rome.