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Fontana del Fiume a Villa Celimontana

Typology: Fountains

Address

Address: Via della Navicella
Zone: Rione Celio (Terme di Caracalla) (Roma centro)

Description

The first information about this fountain is found in a document dated 1603, in which it is mentioned that Ciriaco Mattei, the original owner of the villa, paid 15 scudi to a certain "Pompeo scurtore" (probably Pompeo Ferrucci) for "un Marforio che fa alla fontana da basso" (a Marforio that makes the fountain from below).

The semi-recumbent male figure that, according to the classical iconography of river gods, gives the name to the fountain, is not mentioned in the subsequent inventory of all the statues in the Giardino della Navicella, made by Ciriaco Mattei himself in 1614.
Located at the end of the road called "Viale delle iscrittioni antiche" in the 16th century, the fountain consists of an elliptical basin bordered by an architectural masonry base divided by pilasters, with a central panel decorated with tartars and profiled by a frame with masks. The niches open on the sides housed, as mentioned in the Mattei inventory, "Doi Minerve armate, each 6 palmi high", no longer present. The water that gushes from the wineskin supported by the statue of the River is collected in a large elliptical basin.

See also

Culture and leisure › Green › Gardens, villas and urban parks
Last checked: 2023-08-02 11:34