083a.

Fonte del Acqua Acetosa

Vasi shows the Acqua Acetosa on the banks of the Tiber (1) a curve of which appears at lower right. The fountain is located outside the city walls, about midway between the Ponte Salaro, Plate 83, and the Ponte Milvio, Plate 84. At the beginning of the 16th century Paolo V Borghese (1605-1621) constructed a simple fountain in the open country side along the right bank of the Tiber, close to the Tor di Quinto at the place where a spring gushed of ferro-acidic water which was said to be healthy for the kidney, stomach, liver, spleen, and for many other ailments. It was, Alessandro VII (1655-1667) who constructed the project as we now see it. Vasi depicts his coat of arms on the pediment above the fountain. The project, which for a long time was attributed to Bernini, is in reality the work of Andrea Sacchi. As late as the early 20th century, water from this spring was sold in town from carts laden with containers of this highly respected cure-all by ambulating Acquacetosari. After the fonte dell’Acqua Acetosa became non-potable about 50 years ago, it was abandoned. Today it has been restored but no longer with Acqua Acetosa but with normal drinking water. The street which Vasi tells us "leads to Rome" at left, is a branch of the Via Flaminia (2).