12 Roman Fountains That Will Encourage You to Hop on a Flight to Italy

The only way to catch the Trevi Fountain in a quiet, uncrowded moment is to watch La Dolce Vita. But don’t let crowds keep you away; the 18th-century masterpiece is one of Rome’s top destinations for a reason. With close to 3 million cubic feet of water circulating through it every day, it’s an extraordinary sight, and its recent deep-scrub renovation makes it all the more so. Remember: one coin successfully tossed over your shoulder into the fountain means you’ll return to Rome; a second means you’ll find love; a third means you’ll marry. And all of this means Italian charities make roughly 3,000 euros a day from the fountain.

In the broad Piazza Navona roughly a kilometer west of the Trevi Fountain, the 17th-century Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) attracts almost as many tourists. Four river gods (representing the Nile, the Danube, the Ganges, and the Rio de la Plata) reign beneath a towering Egyptian obelisk.

Looming over all of Rome is the Fontana dell’Acqua Paola, or “Big Fountain.” The terminus of the Acqua Paola aqueduct, the fountain’s water pressure was so strong it burst marble balustrades upon opening in 1612. (James Bond, however, does it no harm as he roars by in his latest film, Spectre.)

The Quirinal Palace is the residence of Rome’s president, and its gardens are home to the Fontana dell’Organo, a water organ built in 1596 for Pope Clement VIII. Though no match for the far more famous (and larger) water organ at the UNESCO-listed Villa d’Este outside Rome, the one here still has a lovely sound, if you’re fortunate enough to pass by while someone’s playing (wooden doors just beneath the organ pipes hide the keyboard). Once open to the public just one day a year, the palace’s gardens are slightly more accessible now, though booking a guided tour is required.

As fanciful as anything you’d find at Disneyland—and more impressive, given that it was created 342 years before Walt broke ground in California—the Vatican Gardens’ Fontana Della Galera features a detailed, three-masted galleon complete with reefed sails, a reinforced lead hull, and 64 cannons (plus one bugler) spewing water. The fountain was built circa 1620 by Dutch-born architect and designer Giovanni Vasanzio, who also worked on the Palazzo Borghese as well as several other Roman landmarks.

Elsewhere in the Vatican Gardens, you’ll find (with the help of the required tour guide), the Fontana dell’Aquilone (Fountain of the Eagle). Despite the fountain’s name, the eagle perched high above the pool is the least interesting part of this strange, grotto-like corner of the papal property: look for the dragons, the grinning swimmers, and the network of spooky caves. It’s hard to imagine the nuns in the monastery nearby sleep peacefully at night.

There’s hardly enough water in the 91-year-old Fontana delle Rane (Fountain of the Frogs) for the eight frogs perched along its lip, but that didn’t stop a legend from arising that the Beatles once took a dip here. Like the whimsical buildings nearby, the fountain has a storybook quality, thanks to inventive architect Gino Coppedè.

If you prefer turtles to frogs, head to Piazza Mattei for its Fontana delle Tartarughe. Built in the 1580s, this celebrated fountain originally featured four statues of young boys holding up dolphins, which were later replaced with turtles. (If Rome’s too far a trek for you, you can visit a copy in Huntington Park in San Francisco.)

It’s hard to make it too far through your Rome bucket list, fountains or otherwise, without encountering the baroque handiwork of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. In addition to crafting the Fountain of Four Rivers—and many of the more showstopping aspects of the Vatican, including the broad plaza in front of St. Peter’s—Bernini created the Fontana del Tritone, featuring a muscular merman atop four dolphin tails, in the middle of Piazza Barberini in 1643.

The Fontana di Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere may not look as grand as some of the others on this list, but no fountain has a better, or more curious, pedigree: it’s thought to be Rome’s oldest fountain, whose origins date back to the eighth or possibly fourth century. What’s more, in 38 BC, it’s reported that not water but oil sprang from the ground nearby, which was later interpreted to herald the birth of Jesus.

For a different sort of miracle, seek out the late 16th-century Fontana Del Facchino (Fountain of the Porter), one of Rome’s famed “talking statues,” so named because they served (and to a degree, still serve) as a kind of bulletin board, a place where citizens would post various notices, often political and satirical in nature. This fountain honors either a water carrier, diligently delivering water to a needy public while the aqueducts were under repair, or a wine carrier. Check for yourself, but word is it’s water flowing now.

And by all means, visit my favorite drinking spot, the little Fontana di Via Garibaldi for a great water stop whether you’re climbing the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) or just coming down. (The fountain is set in the wall at the corner of Via Garibaldi and Via di Porta San Pancrazio.) Though the Roman numerals on the basin read “1936,” it’s thought to date from the early 1600s. Tempting as the basin’s bathtub-like shape may be, don’t step in—you never know who might be drinking from some other fountain downstream.