Fontana II

This is the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (“Fountain of the Four Rivers”) which I had stupidly confused with the Trevi Fountain.  This is the fountain I had always wanted to see.  In fact, I went full-Aragorn when I saw it, murmuring, “Long have I desired to look upon the [rivers] of old.”

It was designed by Bernini in 1651.  Beneath yet another Egyptian obelisk, there are four sculptures personifying the four great rivers of the four continents over which papal authority had spread:The Ganges representing Asia…
…the Río de la Plata representing the Americas….  …the Danube representing Europe…  …and the Nile representing Africa.
And this is the one I have always wanted to see because I fucking love this:  the sculpture of the Nile is depicted with its head covered because, at the time of its sculpting, the source of the Nile was unknown to Europeans.