Fontanile di Clemente XI

This ancient trough was built by Carlo Bizzaccheri in 1717 under pope Clemente the Eleventh Albani (1700-1721). It was once situated next to the fountain of the Tritons in Piazza della Bocca della Verità, also a work by Bizzaccheri. It was still common practice in the Eighteenth century to build modest ponds for the people next to the monumental and aristocratic fountains. When the entire area was involved in the works for the construction of the embankment of the Tiber river after 1870, the trough – that consisted of a brick rectangular pond that receives water from a lion’s head that surmounts one of the short sides – was separated and moved to its current location.