Fontana del Moro, Renaissance fountain in Piazza Navona, Italy
The Fontana del Moro is a fountain on Piazza Navona in Rome with sculptural figures and flowing water. The central statue shows a man on a pink marble base wrestling with a dolphin, while four additional figures distribute water around the composition.
Giacomo della Porta designed the original fountain in 1575 with its basic structure and form. Later, around 1653, Gian Lorenzo Bernini added the central figure that transformed it into the work recognized today.
The name comes from the central figure representing an African man, which gives the fountain its distinctive character. It forms part of a trio of fountains that together shape how visitors experience Piazza Navona as a unified space.
The fountain is centrally located in Rome and reachable by several bus lines that stop near Piazza Navona. Visitors can enter the piazza at any time, though the area is crowded during the day and quieter in the evening.
In the 1800s, the original statues were moved to a museum and replaced with carefully made replicas that still stand at the fountain today. Visitors are therefore looking at copies, yet they were crafted with such care that this detail often goes unnoticed.
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