Piazza di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme

In the square overlooked by the splendid Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, there is a noteworthy fountain, built by Vittorio Cafiero in 1928. A small travertine step, profiled and striped according to three radials and paved with porphyry cubes, forms the base of the deep three-lobed basin. From the centre of the basin rises a shaft articulated in three shaped basins, the edge of which is moulded with a leaf motif. Each basin is crowned by a niche decorated with volutes, against the background of which an angel's head with outstretched wings blows water from the basin into the large basin below. It often remains inactive, despite the presence of the high walls of the Felice aqueduct, and abandoned despite its proximity to the basilica of S. Croce, one of the most famous in Rome.
The three-part structure, quite unusual in the local fountains, is perhaps due to the particular location of the fountain. In this square, once called Monte Cipollaro because of the crops that were grown there, three main roads converged: one that ran along the aqueduct walls, another coming directly from S. Giovanni in Laterano (today's Via Carlo Felice), and the last one reaching Porta Maggiore.