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Piazza Barberini Review

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Piazza Barberini

  • Address: Junction of Via del Tritone, Via Veneto, Via Quattro Fontane, and Via Sistina, Rome | Map It

Fodor's Review:

One of Rome's more modern quarters, this district was built during the late-19th-century construction boom on the site of the lush gardens of Villa Ludovisi, a patrician family's estate that had in turn been built over the celebrated ancient Roman gardens of Sallust. The piazza, a picturesque marketplace during the 17th and 18th centuries, has lost its original charm in the rush of progress. Undistinguished modern buildings overshadow the older ones, and traffic circles the Bernini Fontana del Tritone (Triton Fountain). Bernini's Baroque centerpiece in Piazza Barberini was created in 1637 for Pope Urban VIII, whose Barberini coat of arms is at the base of the large shell. The fountain's triton blows into his conch shell with gusto, sending an arc of water into the air. In a city of beautiful fountains, this is one of the most vivacious. Too bad about the setting.

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