Fontana di Piazza Nicosia Fontana di Piazza Nicosia The Fontana di Piazza Nicosia is a fountain in Rome, Italy, is the first of the modern fountains of Rome. It is located in the square with the same name. Built in 1572 after the re-activation of the Acqua Vergine aqueduct, it was designed by Giacomo della Porta, and was originally located in the Piazza del Popolo around the obelisk. In 1823, however, after the fountain was judged to be too small for the size of the piazza, Giuseppe Valadier designed a new fountain for the Popolo, that consisted of four mini-fountains of lions surrounding the
Fountain the first continually-running fountain in Florence, the Fountain of Neptune in the Piazza della Signoria (1560–1567). This fountain featured an enormous white marble statue of Neptune, resembling Cosimo, by sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannati. Under the Medicis, fountains were not just sources of water, but advertisements of the power and benevolence of the city's rulers. They became central elements not only of city squares, but of the new Italian Renaissance garden. The great Medici Villa at Castello, built for Cosimo by Benedetto Varchi, featured two monumental fountains on its central axis; one showing with two bronze figures representing Hercules slaying Antaeus, symbolizing