Fontana della Galera, Baroque fountain in Vatican Gardens, Vatican City.

The Fontana della Galera is a monumental portico crowned with a coat of arms and four vases, with a central niche holding a marble sculpture and relief, flanked by two smaller niches with small fountains. In front lies a pool containing a bronze model of a warship, actually a galleon, made in 1620–1621, with water jets spraying from its cannons and masts.

Pope Paul V of the Borghese family commissioned the fountain, built by Giovanni Vasanzio (Jan van Santen) and Martino Ferrabosco. Its present form dates from 1620–1621, when a bronze model of a warship was placed in the basin, with water jets spraying from its cannons and masts. Pope Urban VIII later wrote a Latin couplet in honour of the ship.

Pope Urban VIII wrote a Latin couplet in honour of the ship, which is why the vessel carries literary as well as sculptural weight. The galley is in fact a galleon, a sailing warship rather than a rowed galley, and water pours from its cannons and masts. The bronze model, made in 1620–1621, survives as a rare sculptural rendering of a ship.

This fountain is only accessible through guided tours of the Vatican Gardens, which require advance booking. Visitors should wear comfortable walking shoes since the gardens involve extended walking over varying terrain.

The bronze ship was cast in 1620–1621 and is treated as a galleon rather than a galley, despite the name. Pope Urban VIII (1623–1644) wrote a Latin couplet in its honour. Water pours from its cannons and masts.