Fontana di Giulio III (dell'acqua Vergine a via Flaminia)

In 1552 pope Julius the Third Ciocchi del Monte (1550-1555) commissioned to Bartolomeo Ammannati a monumental “public utility” fountain that was built in correspondence of the rich nymphaeum inside the boundary wall of Villa Giulia and leaned against the outside wall of the Villa (currently site of the Etruscan Museum and of the Archaeological Office for Southern Etruria). The work consisted of a granite pond receiving water from an ancient head of Apollo. All rested on a spectacular concave front consisting of two high Corinthian columns surmounted by a tympanum and flanked by two niches where the statues of Happiness and Abundance were placed. Above them statues of Rome, Minerva, Neptune, and two granite pyramids. At the death of Julius the Third the villa was confiscated by Paul the Fourth Carafa (1555-59). His successor Pious the Fourth Medici (1560-65) gave the villa to his nephews Federico and cardinal Carlo Borromeo. Close to the front of the fountain the cardinal built a small house and donated in 1566 together with the villa to his sister Anna, who brought it as a dowry to Fabrizio Colonna. So the fountain today appears as an integral part of the facade of the palace (site of the Embassy of the Italian State to the Holy See). All that remains of the past splendour is a stone pond that receives water from a faun mask (that replaced the ancient head of Apollo), flanked by two dauphins and surmounted by the coat of arms of the Colonna family with atrophy of arms and flags.