Fountain in Piazza S. Croce in Gerusalemme

In the square overlooking the wonderful Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, we find a noteworthy little fountain, built by Vittorio Cafiero in 1928. A small travertine step, profiled and lined in three radials and paved with porphyry cubes, forms the base of the deep trilobed basin. From the centre of the basin rises a shaft divided into three shaped basins, their edges molded with a leaf motif. Each basin is crowned by a niche decorated with scrolls, in the background of which an angel's head with outstretched wings blows water from the basin into the large basin below. It often remains inactive, despite the presence of the high walls of the Felice Aqueduct, and abandoned despite its proximity to the Basilica of Santa Croce, one of the most famous in Rome.

The three-part arrangement, quite unusual for neighborhood fountains, is perhaps due to the fountain's unique location. In this square, once called "Monte Cipollaro" due to the crops that grew there, three major roads converged: one that ran alongside the aqueduct walls, another coming directly from San Giovanni in Laterano (now via Carlo Felice), and the last that reached Porta Maggiore.

Fountain in Piazza Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. Ph. Turismo Roma