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Fontana del Prigione in Trastevere

Typology: Fountains

Address

Address: Via Goffredo Mameli
Zone: Rione Trastevere (Gianicolo) (Roma centro)

Contacts

Description

The fountain was made in 1587-1590 as a perspective backdrop to one of the avenues in the garden of Villa Montalto Peretti, an imposing residence on the Esquiline Hill designed by Domenico Fontana for Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590).

Author: Domenico Fontana
Date: 1587-1590, 1923
Materials: plaster, stucco, marble, mosaic, plaster
Original source: Felice Aqueduct
Original location: Garden of Villa Montalto Peretti at the Esquiline.

The name 'Fountain of the Prison' derives from the sculpture of a prisoner with his hands tied that stood in the central niche.
The villa was destroyed at the end of the 19th century for the construction of the new residential quarters of Rome's capital, and the constituent parts of the fountain were purchased by the Municipality of Rome, dismantled in 1888 and stored. In 1894-95 it was decided to reassemble the fountain as a backdrop for via Genova, one of the streets of the new urbanisation near via Nazionale.
In 1923 the fountain was again dismantled and reassembled in its present location along via Goffredo Mameli on the slopes of the Janiculum, according to a project by the Genio Civile.
The fountain essentially retains its original appearance, consisting of a large niche decorated with garlands in relief and lion protomes, a reference to the heraldic insignia of Pope Sixtus V. In addition to the sculpture of the Prisoner, the statues of Apollo and Venus that were placed in the niche on either side of the Prisoner have been lost; the head of the statue of Aesculapius that crowns the top of the work is also missing.
The fountain underwent restoration by the municipal administration in 2005-2006, during which a buffer zone was created.

Last checked: 2023-08-02 12:10
©2007 - Roma Classic version