The Drinking Fountains of Rome

Everyone is familiar with the fountains in Rome.  They’re famous.  People come from all over the world to see them, take tours of them and, of course, take pictures in front of them.  The water in the fountains, however, is recycled and not suitable for drinking.  What you may not know is that Rome also has public drinking fountains.  There are more than 2,500 of them and they’re scattered throughout the city.  There’s even a free app that shows the location of every single one.  Use your favorite search engine and look for: I Nasoni di Roma.

In ancient times there were seven aqueducts that brought water into the city.  This was the primary water source for most households.  The aqueducts also suppled water to the fountains, bath houses and private villas.  One of those aqueducts is still used to supply water for the drinking fountains.  The water is pure mountain spring water.  Unlike the tap water in Rome the water from the drinking fountains is unfiltered, contains no additives and is cold and fresh.  It is tested for purity over 250,000 times per year and it’s perfectly safe to drink.

The most common type of drinking fountain is a free standing rather utilitarian looking device called a ‘nasone’.  They stand about three feet tall and weigh about 200 pounds.  If you look closely you’ll see that the spigot is shaped in a curve making it resemble a nose.  In fact nasone is Italian for ‘Big Nose’.  Most of the nasoni date from the 1870s.

 

(Typical nasone)

Another kind of drinking fountain is the ‘fontanelle’ or little fountain.  These drinking fountains are much older and are always attached to a wall or building.  They are often made of marble and each one is of a unique design.  The water in the fontanelli is exactly the same as in the nasoni.

No self respecting Roman would ever pay for expensive bottled water.  They normally carry bottles and fill them at the drinking fountains.  Only tourists buy the bottled water.

Fun fact: the spigots on these fountains are designed to fill containers.  If you don’t have a container you can drink directly from them but plugging the spigot with your finger.  The water will shoot out of the hole in the top of the spigot creating an ad-hoc water fountain.

(Plugging the hole produces a water fountain)

These fontanelli come in all shapes and sizes…

(Dragon fontanelle in Vatican City)

(A fontanelle around the corner from our apartment in Trastevere)

The Barcaccia or ‘LongBoat’ fountain at the bottom of the Spanish Steps was designed to be a drinking fountain.  The fountain, designed by Bernini, has steps at  the sides to make it easy to reach the water.  This is the only decorative fountain that contains drinkable water.

(Barcaccia fountain at the foot of the Spanish Steps)

Now you know how Rome got one of it’s many nicknames: La Regina dell’Aqua – The Queen of Water.