Trevi Fountain Rome The Crowds

Trevi Fountain Rome The Crowds

One of the first things you’ll notice about the Trevi Fountain – or Fontana di Trevi in Italian – is that it’s downright enormous. At 85 feet high and 65 feet wide, it’s the biggest fountain in the entire city of Rome. A fountain was originally built on this spot in the mid-15th century when the tradition of building fountains to mark the end point of an aqueduct was rekindled, but this has always been the terminus of one of Rome’s ancient aqueducts – the Acqua Vergine. The aqueduct was destroyed by invaders in the 6th century but repaired in the 15th century by order of the Pope when the first fountain was built. The Trevi Fountain you see today, which was completed in 1762, is still served by that same Acqua Vergine aqueduct.

Design of the Trevi Fountain
While most people aren’t concerned with the allegories and symbolism of the fountain’s decor (especially since many are facing away from the fountain as they’re throwing coins), to the original builders the meaning was just as important as the water that flowed from the fountain.