The preceding page is a map. That's all: you'll have to read the links below for information on the rioni. But, as far as I can tell, this is the only rioni map on the Web. Many pages claim to have "maps" of the rioni. What they show are diagrams, not maps, lacking any way to relate the rioni outlines to the actual streets of the city. So I made this map to supply the lack.
   And now, read all about the rioni...
   The basics from, of course, Wikipedia
   The historical beginnings of the rioni: Rome Art Lover
   Pollett's pages
   Max's page
   The astounding Mappa del Centro Storico di Roma. And it is a map, although not the most user friendly.
   On the Nolli Map
   In relation to the Waters of Rome

   The rioni fountains are a little known aspect of Rome. They aren't the grandest of Rome's sights. Some of them are almost silly. But along with the nasoni, the Talking Statues and the rioni badges on the municipal trashcans (now hopelessly mixed up, don't rely on them to identify your rioni!) they are some of the most quintessentially Roman sights of Rome.
   There aren't any web sites that give a comprehensive or lucid history of the building of the rioni fountains. According to The Fountains of Rome (H. V. Morton; 1966, New York, The Macmillan Company; page 261 ff)...
"With the arrival of the Papal acqueducts in the sixteenth century, each region [rioni] had its own fountain, though these had long since vanished when, in the year 1927, Professor Tommaso Bencivenga, Director of the Department of History and Art, suggested to the Governor of Rome that the regional fountains should be revived.
   "The idea was adopted by the municipality, which held the usual competition, asking artists and architects to submit designs for ten of the most ancient and interesting of the regions, each fountain to be an expression of the history of the district. The contest was won by Professor Pietro Lombardi who the year before had delighted Rome with his striking Fountain of the Amphorae, now in the Piazzza dell'Emporio. He designed ten wall fountains so medieval in spirit that one comes upon them today, only forty years afterwards, scarcely able to believe them modern...As a group, and as the creation of one man, they are unique...
   "A notable feature of the group is that all ten fountains were designed, and nine of them in position, in 1927; the tenth was delayed by street construction but was unveiled a year or so later."
   Morton lists these as the original Lombardi rioni fountains: (1) Rione Campo Marzo, Via Margutta; (2) Rione Pigna, Piazza di S. Marco; (3) Rione Monti, Via S. Vito; (4) Rione Tiburtina, near the Verano Cemetery, "destroyed during an air raid during the last war," i.e., WW II; (5) Rione Ripa, built into the walls of the S. Michele Institute; (6) Rione Trastevere, Via della Cisterna; (7) Rione Borgo, Piazza Scossa Cavalli, "disappeared when the piazza was demolished during the construction of the Via della Concilazione;" (8) Rione Borgo, Porta Angelica, "Fountain of the Tiaras;" (9) Rione Borgo, near the Castel S. Angelo, "Cannon-ball fountain;" (10) Rione S. Eustachio, Via dei Staderari.
   Morton also mentions "an eleventh regional fountain...set into the wall of a building in the Piazza della Cancelleria, which lies within the region of Parione." Interestingly, the Plates at the top of page 264 of the 1966 Macmillan edition are reversed, resulting in the Rione Pigna and Piazza della Cancelleria pictures being misidentified as each other.
   We can see from this list that eight of the original Lombardi fountains still exist. One fountain usually ascribed to the "rioni fountains," that of the Amphorae, is not apparently such, although is the work of Lombardi. And one "rioni fountain," that of Parione, is a later addition. (How Rioni Borgo came to have three fountains Morton does not say.) So, current counts of the number of the "rioni fountains" can differ, due to the removal of some originals, and inclusion of two that were not originals.
   A picture of Trastevere's Cisterna fountain in Morton (Plate 38, page 236) shows it to have been somewhat different in 1966. By then it had lost most of the top half of its lower tub, probably battered off by vehicles. It had a banner containing its name ("W LA CISTERNA") painted inside its arch; red paint from the surrounding wall had been slopped and dripped over the front of its arch; a pair of olive or laurel branches had been painted depending from its crest. One modern pictures show the tub intact, and all of the arch painted white. Another photo shows graffitti encroaching on the new white paint! The fountains are still part of life in Rome.
   Fontanelle
   The "All of the Roman Fountains" site has pages for most of the rioni fountains.
   Begin at this page on the Roma Segreta site, and you can see good pictures and explanations of most of the rioni fountains.
   The postingLe fontane di Pietro Lombardi, concerning "History, emotions and facts" about Rome, has good pictures and explanations of the rioni fountains.
   A page at the InfoRoma site has good descriptions and some small pictures.

   Return to the map.