The fountains of St. Peter's Square (Italian: Fontane di Piazza San Pietro) are two fountains in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Italy, created by Carlo Maderno

Carlo Maderno

Carlo Maderno was a Swiss-Italian architect, born in Ticino, who is remembered as one of the fathers of Baroque architecture. His façades of Santa Susanna, St. Peter's Basilica and Sant'Andrea della Valle were of key importance in the evolution of the Italian Baroque...

 (1612–1614) and Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...

 (1667–1677), respectively to ornament the square in front of St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica

The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...

. The older fountain, by Maderno, is on the north side of the square.

The Fountain of Pople Innocent VIII

The Maderno fountain is located on the site of an earlier fountain, built in 1490 during the time of Pope Innocent VIII

Pope Innocent VIII

Pope Innocent VIII , born Giovanni Battista Cybo , was Pope from 1484 until his death.-Early years:Giovanni Battista Cybo was born at Genoa of Greek extraction...

. It was reputed to be the finest fountain in Rome, with two vasques and three jets of water coming from the mouths of three stone heads, and three coats of arms of Pope Innocent VIII, carved by Alonso du Capua. The fountain was described by the Roman chronicler Stefano Infessura: "In the year 1490, His Holiness constructed on the Square of St. Peter... a magnificent fountain, with marble plaques inscribed with history, and two round vasques one above the other, so that they can be seen; and anyone will judge, nothing comparable can be found anywhere in Italy."
The fountain was restored by Pope Alexander VI

Pope Alexander VI

Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llançol i Borja was Pope from 1492 until his death on 18 August 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his Italianized surname—Borgia—became a byword for the debased standards of the Papacy of that era, most notoriously the Banquet...

 in 1500 and a watering basin for animals was added.

The Maderno Fountain

In 1612, the ancient Roman aqueduct the Aqua Traiana

Aqua Traiana

thumb|240px|Route of Aqua Traiana shown in red.thumb|240px|Route of Aqua Traiana within ancient Rome.The Aqua Traiana was a 1st-century Roman acqueduct built by Emperor Trajan and inaugurated on 24 June 109 AD...

 was rebuilt by Pope Paul V

Pope Paul V

-Theology:Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an order not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy...

 and renamed the Acqua Paola; the restored aqueduct provided the fountain with a much more abundant source of water. The architect Carlo Maderno, nephew of the architect Domenico Fontana

Domenico Fontana

Domenico Fontana was a Swiss-born Italian architect of the late Renaissance.-Biography:200px|thumb|Fountain of Moses in Rome....

, was given the commission to redesign the fountain. He built a new octagonal base for the fountain on top of which built a large irregular basin, decorated with steps and small columns, to hold the water. he kept the large lower stone vasque of the old fountain, and ornamented the pedestal above it with four stone scrolls. He removed the smaller upper vasque, and replaced it with an inverted vasque or cap like a mushroom, covered with stone scales. When the water spouted from the top, it poured down over the top of the upper vasque, its flow broken and made to sparkle by the stone scales. In addition he removed the coats of arms of the three previous Popes and replaced them with plaques honoring his patron, Pope Paul V.

Like all fountains of the time, the fountain on St. Peter's Square had no pumps and operated purely by gravity, with a source of water higher than the fountain which caused the water to shoot upwards. The source of water for the fountain, the Aqua Paola, was on the Janiculum

Janiculum

The Janiculum is a hill in western Rome, Italy. Although the second-tallest hill in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among the proverbial Seven Hills of Rome, being west of the Tiber and outside the boundaries of the ancient city.-Sights:The Janiculum is one of the...

  hill, 266 above sea level, which meant that the fountain could shoot water twenty feet upwards into the air. in 1641 the Flemish lawyer Theodor Ameyden said that the jet of water from the top of the fountain "seemed to rise in the air like a veritable river." He called it "the most beautiful fountain which exists in Europe.

The Bernini Fountain

For half a century the square was decorated with the Maderno Fountain and with the obelisk raised by Pope Sixtus V

Pope Sixtus V

Pope Sixtus V , born Felice Peretti di Montalto, was Pope from 1585 to 1590.-Early life:The chronicler Andrija Zmajević states that Felice's family originated from modern-day Montenegro...

, but the southern part of the square was empty. In 1667 Pope Clement X

Pope Clement X

Pope Clement X , born Emilio Bonaventura Altieri, was Pope from 29 April 1670 to 22 July 1676.-Early life:Emilio Altieri was born in Rome, the son of Lorenzo Altieri and Victoria Delphini, a Venetian lady...

 commissioned Bernini  to build a second fountain, which closely followed the design of the earlier fountain. The second fountain was completed in 1677.

Influence

The fountains of St. Peter's square influenced other fountains throughout Europe. The Roman Fountain at Peterhof in Russia (1720) was inspired by Maderno's fountain and took its name from it. The Fontaines de la Concorde

Fontaines de la Concorde

The Fontaines de la Concorde are two monumental fountains located in the Place de la Concorde in the center of Paris. They were designed by Jacques Ignace Hittorff, and completed in 1840 during the reign of King Louis-Philippe...

 in the Place de la Concorde

Place de la Concorde

The Place de la Concorde in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.- History :...

in Paris (1840), by Jacques-Ignace Hittorff, were also strongly influenced by the Maderno fountain and the arrangement of the fountains and obelisk in St. Peter's Square.