Rome, Trevi Fountain

(2 photos)
The Trevi Fountain is a grandiose Baroque monument that is an imaginative fusion of architecture and sculpture, with the added attraction of rocks and gushing water. Trevi Fountain is one of the dozen most famous Roman tourist sights, and the best known and most ornate of all the fountains of Rome. Not just a bowl of water in the middle of a street like most fountains, the Trevi Fountain covers a 66 foot wall, plus hundreds of feet of Piazza di Trevi.

The Trevi Fountain is located at the terminus of the Aqua Virgo, one of the many aqueducts that brought water to Rome. The engineers of ancient Rome designed and built no less than eleven aqueducts that totaled 298 miles in length, and carried water from as far as 56 miles away.
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It has become a common practice for a tourist to stand with his back to the Trevi fountain and throw coins over his shoulder into the fountain. The first coin ensures his return to Rome, the second is for a wish he hopes will come true.

Come to think of it, the song that was popular years ago is called, “Three Coins in the Fountain.” Well, in 1970 we threw a coin, and we were back in Rome in 1980, 1985, and 1989, so we know that first one works. With the second coin we “wished” the traffic and parking problems to be resolved, but that one didn’t work at all. Come to think of it, we don’t know what tradition accompanies that third coin.

We have never heard of a connection except for the spelling, but a few miles south of Foligno on the east side of the highway, medieval buildings in the village of Trevi are piled on the top of a hill, surrounded by olive groves. Trevi may be small, but one reference says this was the fourth city in Italy to print a book.