Fontana del Mascherone

The Sovrintendenza Capitolina attributes the fountain to Girolamo Rainaldi (1570–1655) and dates it to the second quarter of the seventeenth century, in grey granite, white marble, travertine and metal, originally fed by the acquedotto Paolo. A fountain for Strada Giulia had been assigned by the Congregazione sopra le fonti as early as 1570 and was meant to run on Acqua Vergine, but the work waited on the Acqua Paola channel of 1612. It was built at Farnese expense, as the lily crowning it indicates. It stood free in a small widening that held an open-air theatre in 1660; the wall behind it went up at the end of the nineteenth century. Roma Capitale adds that in 1720, for Marco Antonio Zondadari's appointment as Grand Master of the Order of Malta, the fountain ran wine for three consecutive days.