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Fontana di Pio IX in Lungotevere Testaccio

Historic site · Testaccio, Italy

A fountain set into the parapet of the embankment wall, aligned with via Florio, in white marble, travertine and brick facing. A brick front is framed by two rusticated travertine pilasters topped by spheres and flanked by volutes; above it the Mastai Ferretti arms sit between two festoons; a lion's-head spout feeds a third-century AD strigillated sarcophagus, and six travertine bollards stand round it. The Sovrintendenza Capitolina's page for it carries its own field, Rione: Testaccio.

History

It was made in 1939 and 1940 by Antonio Muñoz (1884-1960), to close the vista along the street. The 1869 plaque and the papal arms, which had faced the river, were moved into the parapet and joined to the ancient sarcophagus with new work; the plaque commemorates the excavations commissioned by Pius IX and carried out in the area by the archaeologist Pietro Ercole Visconti in 1868 and 1869. The fountain was restored in 1993 and again in 2000, after vandalism.

Visit

Lungotevere Testaccio, 00153 Roma RM

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