Fontana Paola

Fontana Paola front view

The Fontana Paola (completely Fontana dell'Acqua Paola , Italian also short Fontanone , large fountain) is a baroque fountain in Rome on the Via Garibaldi on the Gianicolo . He was from 1610 to 1612 at the instigation of Pope Paul V erected. The architects of Fontana Paola were probably Flaminio Ponzio and Giovanni Fontana .

Acqua Paola

Following the example of Pope Sixtus V , who had the Acqua Felice built, Camillo Borghese, as Pope Paul V , also wanted to make a contribution to the water supply of Rome. In the year of his election, he commissioned Giovanni Fontana (his brother Domenico Fontana had worked at the Acqua Felice 18 years earlier) and Carlo Maderno with the restoration of the Aqua Traiana , which transported water from springs in the Sabatine Mountains , north of Lake Bracciano to Rome. Paul V named the restored aqueduct Acqua Paola after himself . After a break of more than a thousand years, it was able to supply the Roman district of Trastevere and the Vatican with water again.

In the 17th century, however, there was still the opinion that the Aqua Alsietina had been restored, as the inscription on the Fontana Paola reveals (see below). This ancient aqueduct had a similar course to the Aqua Traiana. However, in contrast to the Aqua Traiana, the water of the Aqua Alsietina was not of drinking water quality.

architecture

As with the Acqua Felice, the aqueduct was to be given a representative endpoint. Giovanni Fontana took the Fountain of Moses as a template and, as there, used a triumphal arch as the central architectural motif . The architrave with the disproportionate inscription and the papal coat of arms at the top are also reminiscent of the model. In contrast, Fontana added two other smaller arches to the triumphal arch. In contrast to the Moses well, there are no statues under the arches. Instead, the effect of the flowing water is emphasized, which pours in small waterfalls in bowls, from which it falls further into a large basin. In the outer arches are two eagles (the heraldic animal of the Borghese ) as gargoyles. The columns in front of the arches come from the nave of Alt-Sankt-Peter, which had just been demolished by Carlo Maderno when the fountain was being built due to the completion of St. Peter's Basilica .

inscription

In the architrave of the fountain there is the following inscription:

PAULUS QUINTUS PONTIFEX MAXIMUS AQUAM IN AGRO BRACCIANENSI SALUBERRIMIS E FONTIBUS COLLECTAM VETERIBUS AQUAE ALSIETINAE DUCTIBUS RESTITUTIS NOVISQUE ADDITIS XXXV AB MILLIARIO DUXIT ANNO DOMINI MDCXII PONTIFIC

Pope Paul the Fifth
brought the water collected from the healthiest springs in the Bracciano area after the old pipes of the Aqua Alsietina were restored and new ones were added from the 35th milestone in the year of 1612, the seventh of his pontificate.

Even Goethe praised in the records of his travel diary the well.

Remarks

^ Christoph H. Heilmann: Acqua Paola and the Urban Planning of Paul V Borghese. In: The Burlington Magazine. 112. London 1970, p. 656.
^ Willy Pocino: Le fontane di Roma. Newton & Compton, Rome 1996, ISBN 88-8183-274-7 , p. 167.
^ Mario Sanfilippo: The fountains of Rome . Hirmer, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-7774-7190-9 , p. 44.
↑ Klaus Bartels: Rome's speaking stones. 4th edition. Zabern, Mainz 2004, ISBN 3-8053-2690-4 , chap. 13.9.
↑ “On the square in front of St. Peter in Montorio we welcomed the surge of water from the Acqua Paola, which through a triumphal arch fills a large, proportionate basin to the edge in five streams. Through an aqueduct restored by Paul V, this abundance of currents makes a path of twenty-five miles behind Lake Bracciano through a strange zigzag from alternating heights to this place, meets the needs of various mills and factories in order to spread itself in Trastevere at the same time . “Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Italian Journey . 1786-1788.

literature

Klaus Bartels : Rome's speaking stones. 4th edition. Zabern, Mainz 2004, ISBN 3-8053-2690-4 , chap. 13.9.
Heinz-Joachim Fischer : Rome. Two and a half millennia of history, art and culture of the Eternal City. DuMont, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-7701-5607-2 , p. 349.
Christoph H. Heilmann: Acqua Paola and the Urban Planning of Paul V Borghese. In: The Burlington Magazine 112. London, 1970.
Iris Lauterbach (Ed.): Le Fontane Di Roma . Publishing house Dr. Alfons Uhl, Nördlingen 1996, ISBN 3-921503-90-6 .
Willy Pocino: Le fontane di Roma. Newton & Compton, Rome 1996, ISBN 88-8183-274-7 .
Mario Sanfilippo: The Fountains of Rome . Hirmer, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-7774-7190-9 .

Web links

Commons : Fontanone dell'Acqua Paola (Rome) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Fontana dell'Acqua Paola on roma-online.de

41.88875 12.464166666667Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 19.5 ″ N , 12 ° 27 ′ 51 ″ E

[1] Christoph H. Heilmann: Acqua Paola and the Urban Planning of Paul V Borghese. In: The Burlington Magazine. 112. London 1970, p. 656.

[2] Willy Pocino: Le fontane di Roma. Newton & Compton, Rome 1996, ISBN 88-8183-274-7 , p. 167.

[3] Mario Sanfilippo: The fountains of Rome . Hirmer, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-7774-7190-9 , p. 44.

[4] Klaus Bartels: Rome's speaking stones. 4th edition. Zabern, Mainz 2004, ISBN 3-8053-2690-4 , chap. 13.9.

[5] “On the square in front of St. Peter in Montorio we welcomed the surge of water from the Acqua Paola, which through a triumphal arch fills a large, proportionate basin to the edge in five streams. Through an aqueduct restored by Paul V, this abundance of currents makes a path of twenty-five miles behind Lake Bracciano through a strange zigzag from alternating heights to this place, meets the needs of various mills and factories in order to spread itself in Trastevere at the same time . “Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Italian Journey . 1786-1788.