Fontana dei Fiumi-Fountain of the Four Rivers

The Fontana dei Fiumi, or the Fountain of the Four Rivers, is the centerpiece of Romes largest piazza, Piazza Navona. Currently the fountain is under construction but you can still see it almost in its entirety through the glass wall around the fountain. The fountain was designed by Bernini and was erected in 1651. The fountain stands in front of the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, and it sure is a sight to see! Roman fountains originally served many purposes such as brining water into town from the hills and also as being monuments to the Pope's that commissioned them. In the case of this fountain, it was sponsored by Pope Innocent X.
The name of fountain is meant to describe four great rivers on the four great continents of the world: The Nile in Africa, Ganges in Asia, Danube in Europe, and Rio de la Plata in America.
Most recently the fountain is one of the center points of the movie Angels and Demons, which is being filmed in Rome. Since the fountain is under construction, they are doing computer generated images of it and then recreating the whole piazza in a studio back in Hollywood. I hope it looks as good as it does in real life! Ciao!

All About Trevi

So throughout the summer I have been writing about The Trevi Fountain, but I never really explained what it is or how it came to be. So here we go! The Trevi Fountain is located about a 10 minutes walk from our school, here in Rome. The fountain itself is 85 feet tall and 65 feet wide and features a wide array of Baroque style architecture. Originally, the fountain was designed by Bernini but was torn down and replaced in 1762 with the current design, done by Nicola Salvi. He died in 1751 but work continued under the initial plans that were drawn up. In 1998 the fountain was refurbished and circulating pumps were installed, although a certain percentage of the water in the fountain still flows from the original source some 8 miles outside of the city. Interestingly enough, the name Trevi comes from the fact that the fountain is situated at the intersection of 3 roads (tre-vie) in a beautiful piazza. So, if you ever find yourself in Rome please visit the Trevi Fountain. Also, legend has it that if you throw a coin over your shoulder it will guarantee you a trip back to Rome. Give it a shot!

It's all relative...

I'm amazed by the fountains in Rome for the simple fact that the water that is presently flowing through them is coming from the mountains some miles outside of the city center and is flowing through aqueducts that are thousands of years old.
When I first arrived in the city I felt weird drinking from these fountains, for the simple reason that my obvious infatuation with them would lead to others labeling me an American seeing as how these wells were so important to my everyday life here. This bothered me, until I started to use these fountains more and more, and I noticed something. The locals here in Rome do actually use these fountains as well.
The reason I thought this weird is that for the first week I was in town I was too concerned with my own use of the fountains to notice who else was using them, but I quickly removed myself from that perspective and noticed that in fact the locals do use these, and for various reasons.
I have seen locals drink from the fountains, wash their bodies in the fountains, and even let their animals drink from them on hot, sweltering Roman afternoons. I just figured that these people have been living in Rome long enough that the novelty of these fountains has worn off, and they stopped using them, but I was obviously wrong. I compare it to a football weekend in State College where the line for The Creamery wraps around the block to the parking garage in which people wait hours for a $3.50 Peachy Paterno (just for you dad!) cone, but to us students, the novelty has worn off. I assumed it was the same for these fountains but that is not true.
This morning, May 28th, I went to fill up my water bottle at the fountain next to our class (Buddah) and an older gentleman in a suit came up behind me with the clear intention of using the fountain, so I let him go seeing as it might take a minute or two to fill my water bottle. He threw his tie behind his shoulder and bent down and took a nice long sip of the cool refreshing spring water, stood up, wiped his mouth, dropped his tie back into place, and he was on his way. He even threw in a simple "grazie" to me for letting him jump in front to get his morning refresher. I said "prego", which means thank you, and smiled. He smiled back and we parted ways.
This early morning experience showed me that in fact the modern day Romans do appreciate what we consider to be a novelty experience, and I think we could learn from this. It may sound very cliche, but we can't take anything for granted. We must not walk by the Pantheon and just go "Oh, there's the Pantheon again." We should stop inside and take it all in because who knows when these experiences will present themselves to us again.
To this, I am allowing myself the pleasure of a double scoop of Peachy Paterno ice cream when I return to State College for Arts Fest. I guess it's the simple things that make all the difference. Ciao

Viale Di Trastevere and The Gianicolo Hill

As I walking down Viale Di Trastevere this afternoon I passed the Standa Supermarket, which we frequent a decent amount seeing as how close it is to our apartment. Anyways, every time that I pass this supermarket, and I mean every single time, I see the same homeless man. He actually seems quite nice. Every time I pass him I give a nice smile and surprisingly he smiles back, unlike the other Italians I have smiled at. Directly across the street is a small little park (maybe 4-5 benches) and there is another group of homeless people (men and women) who do not smile and seem very disinterested in my passing by. Interesting enough though, Viale Di Trastevere seems to be the hot spot for homeless people. Of course there are homeless people in other places, but more of them seem to live on Viale Di Trastevere than any other place. As I was walking by the homeless man in front of Standa today, he was lighting pieces of paper on fire and watching them burn, smiling the entire time!

On a side note, I've been doing a little bit more exploring down our end of Viale Di Trastevere and noticed that a decent amount of the fountains are not working, for some reason. The one that I really wanted to see is called Acqua Paola and it's located on top of The Gianicolo Hill (which gives some great views of the city), but it was dry when we went up the other day. As far as I could tell from reading on-line, it was working as of recently but now seems dry. They had a problem with its water source a while back but authorities said it was fixed. When it is fixed, though, I will make sure to take pictures. It's a pretty interesting looking fountain.
*Check out this map of all the Roman fountains*

Interesting Website about the Aqueducts

If you want to know a little bit more about the Roman aqueducts, then check out this site. It's a little long, and a little in depth, but it gives some great detail about what it was used for and how they were set up. A great read if you have a little time. It doesn't just talk about Rome, but also about how states like California and New York get their water. Save this for a rainy day read!

Multiple Uses for Water Fountain

So last night on my way to the Sede Di Roma (Penn States class space), I was walking along Viale Di Trastevere and I noticed something that made me stop (not for long though!) and question myself as to if this was really happening. The homeless in Rome, although nothing like New York City or Philadelphia, are very much present. They must bathe too, right? Sure. So last night I witnessed a homeless man washing a certain area of his body in a fountain. There were people everywhere, but he did not seem to care. A young lady even walked by, but this did not phase him. This is something that you would most likely not find in America. It's a cultural difference I guess. They seem more tolerant of the homeless here, unlike in New York City where the number of homeless suddenly (and very sharply) decreased when Giuliani went into office. I'm just saying.
Ciao!

Roman Fountains

I have discovered something so simple so yet so affective with the water fountains throughout town! The water normally flows from steel like pipe that is connected to a fire hydrant looking thing (see picture), and sometimes if you just want a drink you have to bend down and get your knees a little dirty in order to taste this great water. But the other day I noticed that about 2 inches up the pipe from the end is a tiny hole, maybe 1/4 of an inch in diameter, and I had no idea what it did. So last night as we’re sitting at dinner I see a local resident (I know this by the speech and dress) go up to the fountain, place his thumb over the main hole and voila, the water is forced up through the little hole and you have a perfect water fountain, just like in the United States. Okay, so it’s nothing like the United States cause these are on the streets, but the water is now more accessible and you don’t have to get your jeans dirty on the ground. I tried it out last night on my walk home when no one was around incase it didn’t work. Well, it worked fine, but the pressure was really high and it went all over a very nice Smart Car parked right in front of the fountain. It’s just water, so I doubt the owner would care. It needed washed anyways! Ciao!