Wheelchair-Accessible Golf Cart Tour of Rome

The Trevi Fountain and its aqueduct

The Trevi Fountain, completed in the eighteenth century, is the end point of an ancient aqueduct known as the Acqua Vergine. Its sculpture shows Oceanus, the god of the sea, with sea horses and tritons. The set-piece design, with the fountain filling an entire palace facade, is characteristic of Baroque Rome, where architects delighted in turning water into theatre.

Bernini and the fountains of the Baroque

In the seventeenth century, popes and noble families commissioned fountains to show off their power and to celebrate the restored supply of water. Gian Lorenzo Bernini became the master of the form. Look for these in particular:

• The Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona, representing the Danube, Ganges, Nile and Río de la Plata.
• The Triton Fountain in Piazza Barberini, with a figure blowing water from a shell.
• The Barcaccia at the foot of the Spanish Steps, designed by Bernini's father Pietro, a sunken boat that suits the low water pressure of that spot.

The Tiber, the river of Rome

The Tiber flows through the city in wide curves, and for much of its history it brought both trade and floods. Today tall embankment walls, built after serious flooding in the nineteenth century, keep the water in check. Tiber Island, shaped like a ship, is the one island in the river within the city, and its bridges are among the oldest in Rome. Crossing a bridge such as Ponte Sant'Angelo gives a lovely view along the water.

Drinking fountains for everyday life

Alongside the grand fountains, Rome has thousands of small drinking taps called nasoni, or big noses. They run continuously, and the water is generally regarded as good to drink. Locals and visitors alike refill bottles at them. They are a reminder that the Roman tradition of public water is still alive.

One of the pleasures of Rome is the sound. In many squares, the splashing of a fountain is the dominant noise, and it softens the traffic and the crowds. Pausing beside one, for a few minutes, is a small free pleasure and a reminder of why the city is so beautiful.

Water in Roman art and literature

Fountains appear throughout Roman art and film as well as in daily life. The city's poets have long written about the sound of water in its squares, and countless visitors have been drawn to the same spots for a quiet moment. The reflective surfaces also make a lovely subject for photographers, especially early in the morning, when the squares are calm and the light is soft.

If you enjoy a theme, follow it. A day spent noticing where the water comes from, where it ends up and who paid for each fountain is a different way into the city's history, and it connects ancient engineering with Baroque showmanship.