1572/73 project by Giacomo della Porta (1533/1602) executed by an otherwise unknown French sculptor named Leminard who was allowed to use the marble bases of large ancient Roman columns found near the Pincio Hill
It is also known as FONTANA DEL TRULLO (Trullo Fountain)
It was the first fountain to be built Rome since antiquity
It was originally located in front of the obelisk in Piazza del Popolo, then it was removed in 1823 by Giuseppe Valadier and then moved in 1849 in front of S. Pietro in Montorio
It later ended up in the municipal warehouses and it was finally moved here only in 1950
Only the basin is original and the top that was lost and rebuilt in 1940, imitating original vintage prints
However the original coat of arms in relief of Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572/85) was replaced with that of the Borghese's eagle because a member of that family, Giangiacomo Borghese, was Governor of Rome at the time
The original decoration at the time it was built for Piazza del Popolo also included "Four statues of Mermen" that were executed in 1575 by the Florentine sculptors Simone Moschino (about 1560/1610) and Taddeo Landini (about 1550/96), by the Flemish Egidio della Riviera De Molines and by Giacomo Silla Longhi (active since 1568/d. 1619) from Varese
The Mermen were considered too beautiful for the fountain which, although the first of modern Rome, was not born under a lucky star, and they were moved to the Fountain of the Moor in the southside of Piazza Navona from where they were moved again in 1874 to end up in the garden of the lake of Villa Borghese. In the Fountain of the Moor there are now copies by Luigi Amici
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