The Fontana dell'Acqua Felice, also called the Fountain of Moses, is a monumental fountain located in the Quirinal eDistrict of Rome, Italy. It marked the terminus of the Acqua Felice aqueduct restored by Pope Sixtus V. It was designed by Domenico Fontana and built in 1585-88.[1]
At the beginning the reign of Pope Sixtus V (born Felice Peretti) in 1585, only one of the ancient Roman acqueducts which brought water to the city, the Aqua Vergine, was still being maintained and working. Everyone in Rome who wanted clean drinking water had to go to the single fountain near the site of today's Trevi Fountain. Pope Sixtus took on the responsibility of restoring other acqueducts, including the Acqua Alexandrina, which he renamed Acqua Felice after himself. new fountain that marked the terminus of the restored aqueduct was the first new monumental wall fountain in Rome since antiquity.[2]
The first effort to build the fountain, by architect Matteo Bartolani, was a failure: Bartolani miscalculated the incline of the channel, so the flow of water was much less than needed to supply drinking water for the neighborhood. A new fountain was constructed by architect engineer Domenico Fontana in the form of an ancient Roman triumphal arch. It featured, as ancient Roman fountains did, an inscription honoring its builder, Pope Sixtus. beneath angels holding the papal coat of arms. Within each of the three arches were sculptures on Old Testament subjects. The central arch featured a large statue of Moses, made in 1588 by Leonardo Sormani and Prospero da Brescia. To the left is Aaron Leading the Israelites to Water, and to the right is Gideon Leading His People across the River Jordan sculpted by Flaminio Vacca and Pietro Paolo Olivieri. Water flows from the statues into basins, where four Egyptian lions are spouting water.
The statue of Moses was criticized at the time for its large size, not in proportion with the other statuary, but the fountain achieved its political purpose; it was a statement of how the Catholic Church, unlike the Protestant Reformation, was serving the needs of the people of Rome. It also achieved its social purpose of reviving the Quirinal neighborhood; what had been a rustic area of villas was turned into a thriving urban neighborhood by the arrival of a good drinking water supply.[3]