Fontana della Barcaccia

Fontana della Barcaccia in Piazza di Spagna, Rome

Fontana della Barcaccia, seen from the top of the Spanish Steps.

The Fontana della Barcaccia (Fountain of the Ugly Boat; Italian pronunciation: [barˈkattʃa]) is a Baroque fresh-water fountain in Piazza di Spagna in Rome, the capital of Italy, just below the Spanish Steps. It is so named because it is in the shape of a half-sunken ship with water overflowing its bows. The fountain was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII and was completed in 1627 by Pietro Bernini and his son Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

The shape was chosen because, prior to the river walls being built, the Tiber often flooded and in 1598 there was a particularly bad flooding and the Piazza di Spagna was flooded up to a metre. Once the water withdrew, a boat was left behind in the square.^[1]

Restoration on the fountain has been carried out several times, the last being in 2014, through a private donation of €200,000. A few weeks after the unveiling, the fountain was damaged on 19 February 2015 by a group of football hooligans, who were in Rome to support Rotterdam-based club Feyenoord in a Europa League match against A.S. Roma. The group, allegedly under the influence of alcohol and drugs,^[2] stepped into the fountain and threw bottles and rubbish in it before clashing with the police.

In popular culture

The English poet John Keats could hear the sound of the fountain's water flowing soothingly from his deathbed. He said it reminded him of lines from the 17th-century play Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding (1611) and was the source for his epitaph: "Here lies one whose name was writ in water."

Jess Walter uses the fountain as a plot device in Beautiful Ruins.

References

↑ Rendina, Claudio (1999). Enciclopedia di Roma. Rome: Newton & Compton.
↑ Ansa.it

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fontana della Barcaccia (Rome).

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Sculpture

1610s	The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun Bust of Giovanni Battista Santoni A Faun Teased by Children Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence Saint Sebastian Bust of Pope Paul V Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius Bust of Giovanni Vigevano Damned Soul Blessed Soul

1620s	Bust of Carlo Antonio del Pozzo Neptune and Triton The Rape of Proserpina Apollo and Daphne Bust of Pope Gregory XV St. Peter's Baldachin Charity with Four Children David Bust of Alessandro Peretti di Montalto Saint Bibiana Busts of Pope Urban VIII Bust of Monsignor Pedro de Foix Montoya Bust of Cardinal Roberto Bellarmine Bust of Cardinal Giovanni Dolfin Bust of Cardinal Escoubleau de Sourdis Bust of Antonio Cepparelli Bust of Cardinal Melchior Klesl Two Angels in Sant'Agostino Bust of Francesco Barberini Bust of Antonio Barberini Bust of Camilla Barbadoni Busts of Cardinals Agostino and Pietro Valier Memorial to Carlo Barberini Tomb of Pope Urban VIII Saint Longinus Sleeping Hermaphroditus (mattress)

1630s	Statue of Carlo Barberini Two Busts of Cardinal Scipione Borghese Tomb of Countess Matilda of Tuscany Pasce Oves Meas Bust of Costanza Bonarelli Busts of Paolo Giordano and Isabella Orsini Statue of Pope Urban VIII Bust of King Charles I Bust of Thomas Baker Medusa

1640s	Bust of Cardinal Richilieu Memorial to Alessandro Valtrini Memorial to Ippolito Merenda Memorial to Maria Raggi Truth Unveiled by Time Bust of Pope Leo X Ecstasy of Saint Teresa Raimondi Chapel Noli Me Tangere

1650s	Busts of Pope Innocent X Bust of Francesco I d'Este The Vision of Constantine Chair of Saint Peter Saints Jerome and Mary Magdalen

1660s	Statue of Alexander VII Busts of Alexander VII Elephant and Obelisk Angel with the Crown of Thorns Angel with the Superscription Bust of Gabriele Fonseca Bust of Louis XIV Equestrian Statue of King Louis XIV

1670s	Blessed Ludovica Albertoni Tomb of Pope Alexander VII Statue of Pope Clement X

Architecture and
fountains

Paintings

Self-Portrait as a Young Man
Portrait of Pope Urban VIII
Saint Andrew and Saint Thomas
Self-Portrait as a Mature Man
Portrait of a Boy
Christ Mocked

List of works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Coordinates: 41°54′21″N 12°28′56.25″E / 41.90583°N 12.4822917°E / 41.90583; 12.4822917

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