Fontana dell'Acqua Felice

Felice Fountain was named in honor of Pope Sixtus V, Felice Peretti, whose intention was to supply water to the districts of Viminale and Quirinale. For this purpose, it was restored to the Alexandrine aqueduct and the project of water conveyance entrusted to Giovanni Fontana. The Fountain was built at the Diocletian Thermae, between the portal and the fountain was built a small seven hundred century table with three closed arches, marked by four Ionic columns and four lions in Egyptian style (the original came from the Pantheon), throwing water from mouth in three adjacent rectangular tanks. The columns support the architrave of which pose the attic and a kiosk containing the papal coat of arms supported by two angels and flanked by two small obelisks. To protect the tanks, it is a travertine balustrade. The central niche depicts Moses indicating the waters, by Leonardo Sormani and Prospero Antichi. In the side niches are two high reliefs depicting biblical scenes involving water, by Giovan Battista Della Porta and Pietro Paolo Olivieri.