St. MARY OF THE SEVEN PAINS

S. MARIA DEI SETTE DOLORI

Via Garibaldi 27

1643/49 by Francesco Borromini (1599/1667) helped by Antonio Del Grande (about 1625/79) the architects also of part of the CONVENT (façade - chapel and vestibule) for Camilla Savelli Virginia-Farnese, completed only in 1667 by Francesco Contini (1599/1669)

“Despite the difference in the plant, it is in a sense a simplified version of S. Carlo Quattro Fontane although, above the cornice, the comparison does not hold. This project comprised possibilities that were further developed in the Church of Propaganda Fide” (Rudolf Wittkower)

“In Borromini's language the theme of plastic and linear continuity between the elements of the architecture gains such importance as to place some of the works of the master close to the logic of Gothic architecture” (Paolo Portoghesi)

INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH

Repainted and restored in 1845

LEFT ALTAR

Altarpiece “St. Augustine” by Carlo Maratta (1625/1713)

CONVENT

Painting “Our Lady of Sorrows with angels and symbols of the Passion” by Marco Benefial (1684/1764)

In 2009 the convent was reconverted into the Hotel Donna Camilla

FOUNTAIN OF THE ACQUA PAOLA IN VIA GARIBALDI

FONTANA DELL'ACQUA PAOLA IN VIA GARIBALDI

Via Giuseppe Garibaldi

1608/12 Flaminio Ponzio (1560/1613) with Giovanni Fontana (1540/1614), brother of Domenico and expert in hydraulics, for Pope Paul V Borghese (1605/21)

They used marble from the Temple of Minerva in the Forum of Nerva and four columns from the old Basilica of St. Peter

It is the ending fountain of the Acqua Paola aqueduct, restoration of the Aqua Traiana dating back to 109 AD

It is popularly known as Er Fontanone, the big fountain

"Compared to the Fountain of the Acqua Felice, which intentionally inspired by the Acqua Paola, there is a difference even greater than what we have seen in the Sistine and the Pauline chapels in S. Maria Maggiore. The static scheme of the Roman arch here is embedded in a gently oscillating boundary. The means of two pairs of volutes and a segmented pediment generate a 'silhouetted' mixed-line, without stiffness, blending the massive volume with the landscape of the Janiculum Hill. This spectacular great machine perforated by light which, filtering through the holes overlapping the water outlets, introduces an ambiguous indication of depth, is one of the landmarks of the irreplaceable views of the Baroque city. The painter Scipione, in the thirties of the twentieth century happily called it 'the front of Rome'" (Paolo Portoghesi)

The semicircular basin was added in 1690 by Carlo Fontana (1634/1714) for Innocent XII Pignatelli (1691/1700) because the water before then came down the hill in the form of a waterfall

Currently the running water is recycled

Inside there is a small deposit of monuments and tombstones from various areas of Rome

When the water of the Acqua Paola aqueduct came in Trastevere for the first time the population was very disappointed because water was non-potable, and even today it is said that "to be worth like the Acqua Paola" is a synonym of "being worth little or nothing"