The Fountain of the Turtles, in Piazza Mattei, is the work of two different authors at two different times: the fountain itself, designed by Giacomo della Porta and sculpted by Taddeo Landini between 1580 and 1588, and the four bronze turtles that give it its name, added almost a century later and attributed to Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Della Porta and Landini, the fountain before the turtles
At the end of the 16th century, Giacomo della Porta, one of the most active architects in post-Council of Trent Rome, designed a marble fountain for the small Piazza Mattei: an octagonal basin, four bronze youths in an elegant position, water that cascaded down. The sculptural execution was carried out by Taddeo Landini. The work was completed between 1580 and 1588, and for seventy years it was just that: four bronze boys supporting a fountain, without a turtle in sight.
The turtles, an addition seventy years later
It was only around 1658 that the turtles appeared, one under each figure's hand, pushed towards the edge of the upper basin, as if trying to reach the water. The attribution to Bernini, then at the height of his activity in Rome, is the most accepted, although the original fountain has nothing to do with him: Bernini arrived seventy years after della Porta and Landini, to complete, not to sign, the work.
Why no one knows the reason for the turtles
The most interesting detail of the fountain is not aesthetic, it is the lack of explanation. There is no record of mythological significance for the turtles, nor documented connection with the Jewish neighborhood where the square is located. The most honest reading is the simplest: an artist added an ornament to the fountain, and the reason, if it existed, has not reached us. It is rare in Rome to find a famous monument without a ready explanation, and the Turtle Fountain is one of them.
A fountain from a private citizen, not a pope
Another feature that differentiates this fountain from most public fountains in Rome, almost always commissioned by a pope as a mark of his pontificate, is its private origin: the Turtle Fountain was commissioned by Muzio Mattei, a Roman nobleman from the family that gives its name to the square and the surrounding street. It is one of the few central fountains in the city that was born from the taste of an individual, not from the political gesture of a pope, which also explains its scale: small, domestic, designed for the conviviality of a neighborhood square, not for the performance of power that fountains such as Trevi or Saint Peter's perform in other parts of the city.
How the fountain reads today
Piazza Mattei is located inside the old Jewish ghetto, and the fountain coexists, in the same block, with the Portico of Octavia and the Theater of Marcellus, the other landmarks on the route through the region. There is no direct historical relationship between the fountain and the community that lived around it: the coincidence is geographic, not thematic, and it is worth noting this so as not to invent a link that the documentation does not support. It is a common mistake, when a monument is located within a neighborhood with a strong identity, to attribute to it a meaning that it never had.
What changes with repertoire
Anyone who passes by Piazza Mattei without knowing the history will see a small, charming fountain, with curious turtles climbing over the edge. Those who know the chronology see two works in one: the geometric rigor of the end of the Renaissance in della Porta and Landini, and the almost playful gesture of the mature Baroque, added without explanation seven decades later. It is the same Rome that can be seen in layers almost everywhere: those who arrive prepared notice what changes from one period to the next, even when the change is just a pair of bronze turtles.
This piece came out of a place you can actually visit. To see it up close, with people who study these works and live among them, follow the link: the cultural immersion in Rome
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Learn about the programFrequently asked questions
Who made the Turtle Fountain?
The fountain was designed by Giacomo della Porta, with the sculpture executed by Taddeo Landini, between 1580 and 1588. The turtles, which give the fountain its name, came later, around 1658, and are attributed to Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Is The Turtle Fountain by Bernini?
Only in part. Bernini did not design the fountain, which is seventy years older than his work in Rome. What is attributed to him is only the addition of the four bronze turtles, about seventy years after the original fountain.
Why does the fountain have turtles?
It's not known. There is no record of mythological, religious significance or connection with the Jewish neighborhood where the fountain is located. The turtles appear to have been a decorative choice by the artist, with no documented explanation to this day.
Where is the Turtle Fountain?
In Piazza Mattei, a small square inside Rome's former Jewish ghetto, a few minutes' walk from the Portico of Octavia and the Theater of Marcellus.
Continue on the route through the ghetto: Jewish ghetto in Rome, what to see · The Italian garden as an idea of the world · Bernini and the Aeneid, by Virgil · Free will in Macbeth: destiny or choice?
Source video (YouTube): A História contada através do Bairro Hebraico em Roma (NousCast)