Fontana del Pianto, Monumental fountain in Piazza delle Cinque Scole, Rome, Italy.
Fontana del Pianto is a fountain featuring an elongated basin on a stepped base in Rome. A circular upper basin with four gorgon head water spouts crowns the structure.
Pope Gregory XIII commissioned architect Giacomo della Porta to build the fountain between 1591 and 1593, using marble from the Temple of Serapis. In 1930, it was moved to its current location in Piazza delle Cinque Scole under Pope Pius XI.
The name comes from five synagogues that once stood nearby, defining the Jewish Ghetto community. For centuries, it served as a gathering place and water source for the local residents.
The fountain sits in an open plaza and is freely accessible at all times. White bricks still mark the original location on Via Santa Maria del Pianto where it once stood.
The white marble came from the Temple of Serapis on the Quirinal. In 1880 the fountain was dismantled when Piazza Giudia disappeared; in 1924 its upper basin, stripped of the gorgon heads, stood temporarily on another fountain on the Janiculum. The whole work was reassembled in 1930, and an epigraph on the outer basin records the reconstruction.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,317 contributors worldwide.
