A papal competition, a near-unknown architect — Nicola Salvi — and thirty years of works (1732-1762) turned the terminal fountain of a 19 BC aqueduct, Agrippa's Aqua Virgo, into the most famous fountain on earth: Ocean advances on a shell chariot drawn by sea horses, one calm, one raging like the sea itself. Anita Ekberg, in 1960, did the rest.
What to see
The reveal from Via delle Muratte, when the fountain bursts unannounced into its small square: Trevi does not approach, it appears. Then the details: the statues of Health and Abundance, the reliefs of the virgin showing the spring to Roman soldiers, and the theatrical graft onto Palazzo Poli, which serves as the fountain's stage set.
Visiting
Always visible and free, with stewarded flows on the steps at peak times. The coin rite — back to the basin, right hand over left shoulder — guarantees a return to Rome and funds Caritas: the coins are periodically collected and donated. Climbing into the water is forbidden and expensively fined, Dolce Vita or not.
Getting there
On foot: seven minutes from the Pantheon, ten from Piazza di Spagna (metro A "Barberini" is the useful stop). The approach lanes are narrow and crowded — that is part of the staging.
Our editors' tip
Before seven in the morning the fountain is yours, water the only sound; after midnight it grows nearly as quiet and the floodlit stone gives more. In between, accept the crowd as part of the work: Trevi is theatre, and the audience is on stage.