Piazza di Spagna is certainly one of the most famous sites in the world. Its traditional view from the Via Condotti is closed from above by the Trinità dei Monti church, built in the first half of ‘500 by will of the kings of France and below by the Barcaccia Fountain. The fountain was installed in 1629 by Pietro Bernini, assisted by his son, Gian Lorenzo, to fulfil Pope Urbano VIII, Barberini’s wish, whose coat of arms of the sun and bees decorate it.
The two monuments are connected by the Baroque “steps”, built in 1726 to eliminate the steep tree lined paths that led to the Pincio, the hill where the square opens at its base.
The building of the fountain was hampered by technical difficulties caused by the low water pressure of the Acqua Vergine. The aqueduct, the only one still functioning from the Roman era, originates near Salone on the Via Collatina a few miles from Rome; according to a legend it was named after a virgin who found the water’s source.
Built by Agrippa to satisfy the needs of Campo Marzio, it runs along the Aniene river, deviating when it gets to Via Pietralata, flowing towards Parioli and the Villa Borghese where it descends through the centre of the capital feeding the Barcaccia Fountain, moving through the Via dei Condotti (Pipes) called after it.
The proximity to the fountain of the aqueduct's purifier explains the low water pressure in that spot.
These difficulties were overcome by placing the fountain’s base below street level; this was architecturally justified by building the fountain in the shape of a partially underwater boat, with spurts of water flowing from the mouths of cannons, placed originally symmetrically at the stern and prow. It seems the idea came from a boat being brought there by the most intense flooding of the Tiber banks history has ever recorded at Christmas in 1598.
Wherever the inspiration came from, there is a strong allusion in the fountain to the Church’s functions; water, the symbol of purity, flows from the mouths of cannons, destined to spread fire that is put out by the jetting water; the papal emblems decorating the cannons mouths indicate the pacific role of the universal Church, particularly dear to Urbano VIII, whose pontificate aimed at a policy of stability between France and Spain, which would guarantee the independence of the Holy See from Spain and the Empire.
Half of the large area where the fountain is located was called Piazza di Spagna because of the Spanish Embassy’s presence there, the half that goes into Via del Babuino was called Piazze di Francia in honour of the French kings who had been responsible for the building of the Trinità dei Monti Church.