104.

Chiesa di S. Maria a Trevi

In the left background of this view one sees the small, late Renaissance church of S. Maria a Trevi which is encapsulated by its adjoining monastery (3) of the Fathers Ministering to the sick. Vasi uses this church as a pretext to display the great Trevi fountain (1). The fountain with its architectural backdrop, designed and executed by Salvi between 1732 and 1762, totally obscures the facade of Palazzo Conti/Poli (2) against which it is built. In order to promote the urban development of the Campo Marzio east of Via del Corso, Nicholas V Parentucelli (1447-1455) revived the Acqua Vergine (its modern name) and placed a modest fountain against the west side of the Virgo aqueduct which Tempesta's 1593 map shows crossing Piazza di Trevi (Nolli shows the aqueduct embedded in the blocks behind the fountain as a thickened dark line). Bernini demolished the earlier fountain in 1643 and replaced it with a new south facing fountain that guaranteed its waters would sparkle all day in the Roman sun but it was never completed. Salvi in turn demolished Bernini's work to make way for the fountain on the same site that we see today. Trevi, which still gets its water from the ancient Acqua Virgo, is one of three aqueducts' mostra (terminal display) modeled on that of the ancient Acqua Julia, Plate 126. The other two are the Acqua Felice, Plate 148, on Via Pia / XX Settembre, and the Acqua Paola, Plate 99, on the Janiculum hill. In a closely related view to the one featured here, Vasi shows the church of SS. Vincenzo and Anastasio, Plate 139, that overlooks the fountain from the southeast corner of the piazza while the street (4) leading off to the Piazza Barberini and the nearby Cappuchin monastery, Plates 36, 132, is barely visible on the right.