WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE...
written by Sergio Caggìa with Paul Gwynne for © Nerone the Insider's Guide to Rome

 

The water which issues from Rome's drinking fountains is very good. It comes from deep springs and is as pure as mineral water and can be drunk without fear. Water, water everywhere... It seems as if each street in the centre of town has its own fountain. Each month we will try to describe a different fountain and tell a little about its history. Along the Via degli Staderari, built into the wall of the old university of the Sapienza, is a modern fountain by Pietro Lombardi (1927). It is unusual. Water pours forth from four books placed either side of a stag's head, above which five marble balls arch. The books represent the university; the stag's head is the symbol of Saint Eustace (and Rione Sant'Eustachio named after him), while the five balls (or palle ) were the symbol of Giovanni de' Medici (later Pope Leo X) who was considered the university's second founder. The stag's head refers to the vision of the first-century martyr Saint Eustace, who is the patron of the chase. This peculiar symbol represents the vision of the crucifix seen between the horns of a stag by the saint while out hunting. The street's strange name derives from the Roman corruption of the italian word staderai; the staderaii were craftsmen who made weighing-machines and scales known as stadera, and who formerly practiced their trade nearby. As we have seen before, the street takes its name from the craftshops.