Quattro Fontane (Four Fountains)

The Quattro Fontane are four baroque corner fountains that since 1588 have framed the intersection of Via del Quirinale and Via delle Quattro Fontane at the summit of the Quirinal hill in Rome. Pope Sixtus V commissioned them as part of an urban programme that aligned Rome's main axes onto telescopic sightlines: three of the four views from the crossing run to obelisks in front of Trinita dei Monti, Santa Maria Maggiore and Porta Pia. Each marble fountain shows a reclining allegorical figure: the Tiber and the Arno as rivers, Diana and Juno as virtues. Right at the crossroads stands Borromini's San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, a key building of the Roman high baroque.