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The fountain was built between 1588 and 1593 like the others situated in each corner of the crossing formed by Strada Piaand Strada Felice, on the initiative of Muzio Mattei, owner of Palazzo Del Drago, under pope Sixtus the Fifth Peretti (1585-1590). A document dated 23 May 1588 states that the pope donated blocks of peperino that came from the to Septizodium to build the four fountains. Another two edicts by pope Sixtus grant concessions and donations of water to Mattei – the same person that had built the Fountain of the Tortoises in Piazza Mattei – for having built the fountains. We ignore who was the author of this fountain that represents the Arno river, or according to other interpretation, the Aniene river or the Nile river. A male figure lies flanked by a lion, probable heraldic reference to the city of Florence or to the Nile river, with a background of ditch reeds.