The added tortoises
Put in eighty years after the fountain was built and traditionally attributed to Bernini โ the touch that completed it.
Livioandronico2013 โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Rijksmuseum โ CC0 ยท Bradley Weber โ CC BY 2.0 ยท Miguel Hermoso Cuesta โ CC BY-SA 4.0
Because its proportions are near-perfect, its movement quiet and continuous, and its setting undistracting. The great fountains impress you; this one settles you.
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A small fountain in a quiet square inside the Jewish Quarter, which many consider the loveliest in Rome despite its size. Taddeo Landini carved it in 1588: four bronze youths leaning on dolphins, arms raised to the upper basin. The four tortoises that gave it its name were not in the original design โ they were added some eighty years later, and their design is traditionally attributed to Bernini: one small touch that completed the composition and gave the youths something to push with their hands. The square itself is among the quietest and least visited in central Rome, though it stands five minutes from Largo di Torre Argentina and ten from the Pantheon. Sit on a bench and look at it โ there is nothing to buy, no queue, no crowd. Combine it with a walk through the Ghetto: the Great Synagogue, the restaurant streets, and the ancient Portico of Octavia.
Put in eighty years after the fountain was built and traditionally attributed to Bernini โ the touch that completed it.
One of Europe's oldest Jewish quarters, its narrow streets among the best eating in Rome.
Piazza Mattei, Jewish Quarter, Rome
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