Unravel The Mysteries of Our Lives

Day 2 - Fontana del Tritone

Saturday, 22 December 2007

Bernini's baroque Triton Fountain (Italian Fontana del Tritone) is located in Piazza Barberini, Rome, near the entrance to the Palazzo Barberini. It is depicted as a merman kneeling on an opened scallop shell. He throws back his head to raise a conch to his lips: from it a jet of water spurts, formerly rising dramatically higher than it does today. The fountain has a base of four dolphins[1] that entwine the papal tiara with crossed keys and the heraldic Barberini bees in their scaly tails.