𝗙𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗮 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗮 𝟭𝟲𝟮𝟯⁣

"𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝘁" ⁣

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This fountain might seem lackluster when you first look at it, there are so many strange things about it, why so low, why a boat, why here?⁣

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It was the last sculpture by Pietro Bernini who was well regarded in his day but his accomplishments were completely eclipsed by his son, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, in fact when we fling the word Bernini around it’s the son we are talking about. ⁣

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Why a boat. I remember last year when I came here I was kind of surprised that the Tiber River is so hidden. For such an important river it’s easy to miss that it’s there. The Seine in Paris and the Thames in London are both easy to see but the Tiber has a deep embankment of 40 feet and two wide thoroughfares on either side. ⁣

But it wasn’t always like this. Before the embankment the Tiber was a bit of a problem. It would routinely flood much of Rome. Deep floods too. I have a picture of flood markers at Santa Maria sopra Minerva that show them higher than a person's head. ⁣

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On Christmas Day 1598 the Tiber flooded and when the waters finally receded a boat was left in the middle of Piazza di Spagna. Bernini Sr. must have remembered this and wanted to commemorate it with this fountain. ⁣

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The reason it’s so low is simply because the aqueduct that feeds the fountain is running uphill at this point so the sculpture needed to be recessed in order to get the right blast of pressure. Some have thought it was set low so as not to interfere with the view of the Spanish Steps but they weren’t created for another 100 years. It just worked out that way. ⁣