"Every one soon or late comes round to... " a Rome Travel Page by mabelyn

Robert Browning couldn't have been more right when he coined this statement based on that ancient and well known saying, "All roads lead to Rome." This eternal city can't be experienced on an air-conditioned luxury coach. The only way to truly experience Rome to walk the streets, drink from its fountains, and mingle with the people. This can only be accomplished with plenty of time as Rome's many treasures are vast. From our religious beliefs to our political structures we have looked to Rome for inspiration. Rome's age is felt at every corner. This is truly the Old World and following the footsteps of history along Rome's streets can be very rewarding.

If there is one artist who defines Rome it is Bernini. Hailed as the 17th Century's greatest architect and sculptor, Bernini was also a prolific draftsman, painter, set designer and playwright. Bernini originally worked in the Late Mannerist tradition but rejected the contrived tendencies of this style. By 1624 he had adopted an expression that was passionate and full of emotional and psychological energy. His figures are caught in a transient moment from a single viewpoint, bursting into the spectator's space. The sense of drama in Bernini's work is best appreciated in such works as "The Ecstasy of St. Theresa" (Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome), "Tomb of Alexander VII" (St. Peter's), "Apollo and Daphne" (Galleria Borghese), "Pluto and Porsepina" (Galleria Borghese), Triton Fountain (Piazza Barberini), and the Fountain of Four Rivers in Piazza Navona. Needless to say he worked on many other works including the massive Baldachino over the altar in St. Peter's which is the world's largest bronze sculpture as well as the church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale in Rome.

Rome can be extremely hot in the summer and its citizens have for centuries devised a clever way to keep cool: fountains. Some Roman fountains are ornate and some are simple. Some are famous while others are nothing more than water spouts but if there is one thing that they all have in common is great tasting, ice cold water. There are a total of 280 fountains in Rome. Where does all that great tasting water come from? It comes from the alps, much the same was as it did hundreds of years ago.

The Trevi fountain is one of the most famous fountains of all. It is a mostra, a monumental fountain built to mark the end of an aqueduct--in this case the Acqua Verigne, built by Marcus Agrippa in 19 BC. Other mostre are the Fontana dell' Acqua Paola, built for Pope Paul V in 1612 on the Janiculum and the Moses Fountain commemorating the opening of the Acqua Felice by Pope Sixtus V in 1587.

Almost all the famous piazzas have fountains. In Piazza San Pietro there are a couple of powerful fountains. Piazza Navona houses Bernini's well known Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi as its main attraction. There are many lovely fountains that are lesser known such as the Fountain of the Four Tiaras (behind St. Peter's Colonnade) which in my opinion boast the best tasting water in Rome. I later learned that this fountain was blessed by the Pope and its water is considered holy.