HUM 225 Week 5

On the Monday of week 4 in Rome, we did a scavenger hunt around Piazza Navona. One of the questions on that scavenger hunt was about a fountain, that fountain is the Fontanella del Facchino. The Fontanella del Facchino was originally placed in the via del Corso, against the building Palazzo De Carolis, which is now Banco di Roma. In 1874, it was moved to its current location which is actually on the side of the building it was originally placed, but on via Lata.

For this blog, I will be discussing the iconology of this fountain, along with some history. It is said that the Fontanella del Facchino was created around 1580 for the Jacopo Del Conte for the Corporazione degli Acquaroli, and numerous sources say that after an assessment by Luigi Vanvitelli in 1751, he came to the conclusion that Michelangelo actually is the artist of the fountain. Fontanella del Facchino depicts a man wearing a cap and a sleeved shirt while carrying a barrel, also known as “acquarolo.”

The man in the statue represents a porter, whose job in that time period was to fill his barrel up at night with water, usually from the Fontana di trevi, or sometimes the Tiber River, and then sell the water to civilians during the day. The porter had to fill up his barrel at night in order to avoid paying fees for getting water from the Trevi, or any fountain, for that matter. A document in the 500’s stated that “any Acquaroli that takes water from the fountain of Trevi de without cease throughout the year, pay all julii five: item that all horses and mules that load water from the fountain, pay pennies five for every man beast.” The man in the statue was once thought to be a caricature of Martin Luther, but because of his damaged face and overall appearance, he most likely represents Abbondio Rizio, who was a heavy drinker.