The English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote that ‘fountains are enough to justify a trip to Rome’ and he was right because the city is full of beautiful and famous fountains by some of the most important architects and artists of all time. But the most scenic and well-known is undoubtedly the Trevi Fountain, located a stone’s throw from our restaurant.
The fountain is one of the symbols of Rome and has been the setting for numerous films, such as the famous scene in Fellini’s ‘La Dolce Vita‘, in which Anita Ekberg enters the fountain and invites Marcello Mastroianni to bathe with her, or the scene in ‘Totòtruffa 62‘, in which Totò attempts to sell the fountain to a clueless tourist, pretending to be its rightful owner.
It is an extraordinary work of art to which legends and curiosities are linked that still fascinate Romans and tourists from all over the world. As we see it, it was built from 1732 onwards, designed by the Roman architect Nicola Salvi, but unfortunately he died without being able to see it finished and the fountain was completed in 1762 by the architect Giuseppe Pannini. The result was a wonderful monument in late Baroque style whose theme is the sea.


Among the many legends and ancient rituals of which it is the guardian, the best known and oldest tradition is that whoever throws a coin by standing with his back to the fountain, keeping his eyes closed and his right hand on his left shoulder, will be guaranteed to return to the Eternal City. But if instead of one coin you throw two, this will ensure that you meet the love of your life. And if you throw a third one, it will make your wish to marry come true. According to another legend, with an even more romantic tone, when water was still being drawn from the fountain, girls would make their fiancés who were leaving drink a glass of it, which they would then shatter as a sign of good luck and fidelity.
Yet another legend has it that the large vase resting on the parapet overlooking Via della Stamperia, which the Romans nicknamed the Asso di Coppe (Ace of Cups) because its shape resembles the symbol depicted on a playing card, was placed there by Salvi to block the view of the work of a barber who had his shop right next to it and who harassed him with constant criticism and negative judgements.
Also linked to the fountain are many curiosities that not everyone knows. Why is it called the Trevi Fountain? There are various hypotheses as to the origin of the name, but the most accredited one takes us back to the Middle Ages, when three roads crossed in the same place to form a ‘trivium’, i.e. an intersection formed, as the Latin word suggests, by three roads. Another curiosity is that around 3,000 euros a day in coins are collected from the fountain, which are then given to Caritas. Yet another is that unlike many other monuments, birds, which generally litter a lot, do not approach here because the fountain is electrified and gives small electric shocks to the birds that perch on it.