The free standing Fontana delle Anfore is one of the newest built fountains in Rome. It was designed by Pietro Lombardi, elected winner at a competition organized by the local authorities who intended, back in the 1920s, to enhance the decorative patrimony of the city with new fountains. The fountain was built entirely of travertine, in 1927, but in a different place than the one it is located in today.

Initially constructed in the back then called Piazza Mastro Giorgio (now, Piazza Testaccio), the fountain was moved in 1935 to Piazza dell’Emporio, subsequently to Lombardi’s consent of moving his work from one place to another. The centerpiece is represented by a pinnacle covered with amphorae, the amphorae being built of fragments of genuine amphorae discovered in an ancient trading port on the Tiber River. The entire structure is supported by a circular base in the shape of superimposed stairs. The base is split into four sections delineated by simple small walls overtopped, at the foot of the mountain of amphorae, by heads of rams above the coat of arms of Rome.

Name:
Fontana delle Anfore (Fountain of the Amphorae)
Address:
Piazza dell’Emporio, Rome, Italy