Pope Clement XI commissioned Carlo Bizzaccheri, an architect from Perugi, to erect a fountain as part of the project to refurbish the square outside the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. Work started on August 11, 1717. Bizzaccheri designed a great octagonal basin with concave sides making the whole formed an 8-pointed star as part of the Pope's Albani family crest. He repeated the same contour in a single step around, but hardly wider than, the fountain. The step is now almost invisible because the ground has risen. It is in turn surrounded by a circular base, itself enclosed by a ring of 16 posts joined by an iron railing.
Santa Maria Cosmedin
The Fountain of Santa Maria in Cosmedin also known as Pope Clement XI's Fountain was built in 1719 uninhabited and off the beaten path. According to a source, it is a sorry place as there is nothing of any kind worth seeing because everything seems mean, vile, abject, rough and abandoned. It is said that it was impossible in the summer because of the dust as well as in the winter because of the mud.
The whole of the fountain is made of travertine. In the center of it lies two powerful, scaly tritons rising above a group of rocky outcrops and decorated with aquatic plants. The overly huge tritons are kneeling back-to-back with their tails entwined, their raised arms supporting a second basin shaped to look like an open seashell. The basin has three hillocks beneath a star carved on opposite sides which is Pope Clement's coat-of-arms. In the center of this shell are three small mounds from which the water rises. This used to reach the height of around four hands which was about 3 feet but today it can only manage a trickle.
Because it was conceived with only six ounces of Aqua Felice, piped in from the cistern on the Capitoline Hill, water has been a congenital problem for this lovely fountain of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. In all, the fountain was provided with eight ounces of water which have been reduced to only two over the years. The scarcity of water supply may have led to the removal of the four groups in the 19th century. The crests of His Holiness, from each of which two wide jets fall into the cup of the fountain without being in the way or making drinking difficult has also been removed.
Indoor Water Fountains are a great way to bring the beauty of these outdoor fountain indoors.