Fontana del Pantheon

The fountain that is centrally located in the Piazza della Rotanda (the Pantheon) is one of the most beautiful fountains in Rome, in my opinion. The fountain was commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII in 1575, and is the work of Leonardo Sormani, the marble sculptor. It was also used as a central location for the shooting of Angels and Demons, which I mentioned a week or so ago. If you stand at a far and look at the fountain it looks amazing, but get closer. It turns into a whole new looking fountain if you walk right up to it. The details on this marble giant are great! The one downside of the fountain is that, at least while we were in town, it is always covered with large bugs. The water seems to attract them. Oddly though, I have seen them on no other fountain but this one. This is a great place to hang out on a hot day. Be sure to dip your hands in the cool water and put it on your hot, sunburned neck. It will make you feel a whole lot better. Or, grab some wine or gelato and simply lounge in the shade that sometimes (depending on the time of the day) circles the fountain. It is a hectic area, but around the fountain it gets quiet. If you find yourself in Rome, treat yourself to an evening spent at this location. You will not be let down.

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!

Tuesday Morning, May 20th-Roman Fountains Story

I found this interesting story from June 13th, 2007 about the clash between ancient and modern Rome. The water fountains that I have been talking about carry water miles and miles from outside the city to fountains such as The Trevi Fountain, Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona, and the various drinking style fountains placed throughout the city. It happened in an area called the Parioli district, just outside Romes center. Workers were laying concrete for a new parking garage, when they smashed the concrete tubes that carry the water from the mountains to the city center. With the constant growth of the city, this could happen more and more. Lucky for us, the issue was fixed and the fountains still flow today.
Read the full story here.

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!

Roman Water Fountains

When Jared and I arrived on Sunday morning and made our way into Trastevere, we noticed randomly placed fountains that just seemed to pop up out of the ground. As we sat down for a break we noticed that the locals were actually drinking from these old, cement fountains. Seeing as how we were all interested in how the water tasted, we made Brian try it! Once he gave us the okay, we "dove" right in. For almost a week now, we've been enjoying this water that is gravity fed from the hills north and south of town. Without doubt, this is the best water I have ever had. It may be the fact that I know where it is coming from, but oh well. Throughout the summer I will be looking into these fountains and what they mean for modern day Romans, and modern day Tourists, as well as a little history behind the.