Editing Rome (section)

====Fountains and aqueducts====
{{Main|List of fountains in Rome|List of aqueducts in the city of Rome}}
[[File:Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy 2 - May 2007.jpg|thumb|Construction of the [[Trevi Fountain]] began during the time of Ancient Rome and was completed in 1762 by a design of [[Nicola Salvi]].]]

Rome is a city known for its numerous fountains, built-in all different styles, from Classical and Medieval, to Baroque and Neoclassical. The city has had [[fountain]]s for more than two thousand years, and they have provided drinking water and decorated the [[piazza]]s of Rome. During the [[Roman Empire]], in 98 AD, according to [[Sextus Julius Frontinus]], the Roman consul who was named ''[[Curator Aquarum|curator aquarum]]'' or guardian of the water of the city, Rome had nine [[aqueduct (watercourse)|aqueducts]] which fed 39 monumental fountains and 591 public basins, not counting the water supplied to the Imperial household, baths, and owners of private villas. Each of the major fountains was connected to two different aqueducts, in case one was shut down for service.<ref>Frontin, Les Aqueducs de la ville de Rome, translation and commentary by Pierre Grimal, Société d'édition Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 1944.</ref>

During the 17th and 18th century, the Roman popes reconstructed other degraded Roman aqueducts and built new display fountains to mark their termini, launching the golden age of the Roman fountain. The fountains of Rome, like the paintings of [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]], were expressions of the new style of Baroque art. In these fountains, sculpture became the principal element, and the water was used simply to animate and decorate the sculptures. They, like baroque gardens, were "a visual representation of confidence and power".<ref>''Italian Gardens, a Cultural History'', Helen Attlee. Francis Lincoln Limited, London 2006.</ref>