When Prince Don Marino Torlonia bought the current Nuñez-Torlonia palace, built in 1660 by Giovanni Antonio De Rossi for the Marquis Francesco Nuñez-Sanchez, he restored it and added a fountain in front of its large entrance portal on via Bocca di Leone.
Designed by Antonio Sarti in 1842, the fountain is made up of an ancient marble Roman sarcophagus supported by two mighty lion paws. The front of the sarcophagus is decorated in bas-relief with tritons and nereids arranged symmetrically around a central medallion with a togaed man. The water is poured like a fan from a superimposed mask and then comes out through two spouts inserted at the base of the sarcophagus, collecting in a semicircular marble basin protected by columns.
An architectural prospect forms the background of the fountain: two pilasters support an arch which houses the Torlonia coat of arms between two rampant lions. Between the coat of arms and the mask, a striking plaque recalls how the fountain was built by Don Marino Torlonia on an area of his property: “FONTIS HILARITATE ADDITA LOCI DIGNITATEM URBISQUE DECOREM AUXIT”, that is “a fountain was added which happily gave prestige to the place and dignity to the city”.
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