Pope Clemente XI, Albani, descended from a noble Urbino family of Albanian origin. His ancestor Michele Laçi had fought against the Turks alongside Scanderberg and in 1464 he abandoned his country for Italy where he was welcomed by the Duke of Urbino, a certain Federico di Montefeltro whose features have been handed down to us in the portrait by Piero della Francesca.
To his origins are linked numerous initiatives by the Pope opposed to Christian traditions being abandoned in the lands over the Adriatic sea, at that time subject to Ottoman dominion. Maybe it is not by chance then that an eight pointed star shines in his coat of arms which in ecclesiastical heraldry symbolises Christ but which is also a symbol of Islamic tradition.
In 1717 the Perugian architect Carlo Bizzaccheri took the star motif when he designed the basin of the Triton Fountain, situated in the antique area of the Foro Boario, where oxen sales took place dating back from the time of the Roman kings; opposite Isola Tiberina in the square named Bocca della Verità, which can be found today in the porch of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin Church.
The installation of the fountain came about by levelling the square which overhung the level of the church by nearly two metres thereby creating humidity in the latter due to the continuous sinking of the silt.
The centre of the basin, above the travertine rocks sculptured by Filippo Bai, shows a couple of dolphins on their knees with their tails entwined, work of sculptor Francesco Moratti, supporting a scallop shell bowl where the Acqua Felice water flows; the bowl is decorated with Papal coat of arms, with the shield where three hills have been added to the star.
The columns surrounding the fountain were originally placed to allow four entrances where drinking pipes were to be found. In ‘800 during the construction of the Tiber embankment these pipes were abolished, as was the font, placed by Bizzaccheri next to the fountain, which functioned as a drinking trough for animals.
A gallows was erected in front of the fountain for those condemned to death. In 1868 Monti and Tognetti were the last to be executed for their failed attack on 22 October 1867 on the Zouave Papal barracks: two barrels of gunpowder, made to explode in the sewers, caused the death of 23 French soldiers and four civilians. Pope Pio IX was willing to grant them pardon but it seems that the condemned did not even request this, thus Carducci dedicated an ode to those he considered as martyrs of the unity of Italy.