The Fountain of the Porter is one of the talking statues of Rome, used for centuries by the Romans for hanging, on the surface of the small fountain, sheets of paper with written satirical against the powerful people who, in the course of the centuries, ruled in the Eternal City. The most famous takling statue was the Pasquino, a real historical witness. So you can understand how even this small fountain has been something that hardly could be done in the past: lash out angrily against the powerful of the day! Just another way to give the possibility, for the ordinary people, to talk...

But what is most striking about the fountain is the protagonist of the work of art. This small piece of art is depicting a man who represents the purest traditions of the Rome of the past: we see a man who, wearily almost, carries a small barrel, from which flows the water that settles in the bowl below. The man in question is nothing more than an "acquarolo" (roman dialect), which was mistakenly defined the porter, whose main task was to take the water from the fountains, often from the Trevi Fountain. Why? Simply in order to sell it. Night work, in which the "acquaroli" used to fill their casks, one after the other, and then go to day, from house to house, trying to sell the water for a fee modest. In this way, the Romans were spared the fatigue of going to the fountains to stock up on supplies. More or less is like when today we make a call for us to deliver pizza directly to your home! The "acquaroli", mainly thanks to the Trevi Fountain and especially from the XVIII century, brought in the heart of Rome litres and litres of water in the historical centre, became a point of reference for many. But how is it that a city as large as Rome had need of a figure work like that?

For the simple fact that, since the VI century d.C. when, because of a series of sieges, the aqueducts built by the Ancient Romans were destroyed, take the water to Rome was not so simple. You had to go to pick it up at the Tiber river, is not without possible consequences in view of the water is not really healthy. At most, those who do not want to risk the skin with the waters of the Tiber, you could always go to the fountains. But because the "acquaroli" worked, as I wrote above, only at night? Probably, according to some documents, to avoid paying a sort of tax on water, which, otherwise, would be upon the their modest gains. This small fountain, therefore, represents a true cross-section of the popular Rome, a way found by those citizens who, in order to survive, they came also to reinvent yourself, inventing new professions.

The Fountain of the Porter was made at the sixteenth century and, although there is a popular legend that says that even Michelangelo was the author, it is full of mysteries and secrets. Apart from the tradition about Michelangelo, probably the fountain is a Jacopo del Conte's work of art, an artist active in Rome at the end of XVI century, when, probably, the small fountain was built. In addition, Jacopo lived right near where today the Fountain of the Porter is located. In fact, it was originally located along the Via del Corso. Only two centuries ago, perhaps to avoid damage, the fountain was moved into its current location: Via Lata, a small side street of Via del Corso, leaning against the Palazzo De Carolis. Therefore the Founntain of the Porter is useful to understand how a small work of art can represent so much: a way of life, a hope for a better future, a humble but at the same, a cross-section of the Rome of the XVI century. A wonder...