Landmarks · Rome
Turtle Fountain
Four bronze boys boosting tortoises into a basin — Bernini's touch, says Rome.
Admission and address
- Address
- Piazza Mattei
- Admission
- Free, open to the street and lit after dark. Nothing here is ticketed, nothing closes and there is nothing to book. Piazza Mattei carries no through traffic, so it stays quiet even at midday and you can actually hear the water, which is rare for a fountain in central Rome. The bronze turtles on the rim are copies: the originals were stolen from the fountain, and what survives of them is held in the city's museum collection. The palazzi around the square are private, so the fountain is the whole visit and five minutes is enough for it. It sits two minutes from the Portico of Octavia, so treat it as a pause on the way rather than a destination.
- Category
- Landmarks
- Coordinates
41.89383, 12.47758
Where it is
Walk it with the guide
Turtle Fountain is one of 19 stops on Rome Essentials. The guide adds the story behind it, the detail worth crossing the square for, and the tip that only someone who has stood here would write down.
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