Fountain of the Naiads

The Fountain of the Naiads (Italian: Fontana delle Naiadi) is a fountain in Rome, Italy, located at the centre of the Piazza della Repubblica on the Viminal Hill. The fountain was created by the architect Alessandro Guerrieri in 1888. Its four bronze sculptures of naiads created by Mario Rutelli were added in 1901 and Rutelli's central sculpture of the god Glaucus was added in 1912.

The Fountain of the Naiads has its background in a desire to display water from Rome's Acqua Pia Antica Marcia, built as a restoration of the ancient Aqua Marcia and commissioned by Pope Pius IX, and was made to create something monumental for the Via Nazionale. The current structure replaced a temporary fountain which had been inaugurated on 10 September 1870. The new fountain was built in 1888 and was designed by the architect Alessandro Guerrieri who decorated it with four plaster lions.

In 1897, the sculptor Mario Rutelli created a set of bronze statues which replaced the lions. The new version of the fountain was inaugurated in 1901.[3] Rutelli's original centre piece was considered unsuitable and moved to the garden of the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. It was replaced by a 1912 sculpture group by Rutelli before the fountain was re-inaugurated in 1914.

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