Piazza del Popolo Fountains , Rome, Italy
Fountains
of Piazza Del Popolo - 1811 - 1822
In 1561, Pope Pio IV de' Medici commissioned Nanni de Baccio Bigio to replace the ruined medieval gate in the Aurelian wall with what became known as the Porta Flaminia. In 1572, Pope Gregory XIII commissioned Giacomo Della Porta to build a fountain (his first fountain) which was later moved to Piazza Nicosia. In 1589, Pope Sisto V Peretti ordered Domenico Fontana to re-erect the Flaminio obelisk in the center of the piazza. In 1655 upon the visit of Queen Cristina of Sweden's the gate was renamed Porta del Popolo. In 1815, Giuseppe Valadier redesigned the piazza to give it it's oval symmetry by adding the walls. Valadier also added the central fountain and the four white Egyptian lions around the obelisk, with water falling like fans into round basins.
Giuseppe Valadier - Architect of The Piazza del Popolo Fountains
Landscaping with water features: The outdoor water fountains found in Rome's Piazza del Popolo should be regarded as part of a grand architectural design incorporating the piazza's shape, dimensions, location and surroundings and not as a set of modular water features. This composition is the work of Giuseppe Valadier (1762 – 1839) the Italian architect, designer, urban planner, archeologist and chief exponent of Neoclassicism in Italy.
The monuments in Rome are extensive and awe inspiring. In developing his design for the Piazza del Popolo, Valadier had to blend the architectural designs of previous Italian architects with modern architecture; for here in the Piazza del Popolo are grouped the works of a great number of Roman architects, all masters in their own time. Men such as Baccio Pintelli, Michelangelo, Vignola, Carlo Fontana, Rainaldi, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, probably the greatest water fountain designer of them all. The honor bestowed upon Valadier was one of great significance as unlike any other Roman architect, since the days when Michelangelo remodeled the Capitol, here was the opportunity to make the Piazza del Popolo the gateway to the city itself.
Fontana del Nettuno
Valadier really did succeed in making the Piazza an elegant whole composed of elegant water feature designs. This is particularly true of the outdoor stone water fountains he created which are under-stated, innovative, classic, imposing yet graceful all at the same time. Behind the shell fountains, for example, you’ll see depictions of groups. There is Mars resplendent in armor and the river gods Tiber and Anio. The other group consists of Neptune and two Tritons.
Valadier had further plans for the large outdoor fountains and monuments found in the piazza. Unfortunately, unlike in ancient Roman times, modern day water supplies within Rome could not approach those available via the aqueduct system so sadly his really ambitious plans never became a reality.