Fontana delle Tartarughe

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  • Address
    Piazza Mattei, Sant'Angelo
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  • Transport
    bus: Largo di Torre Argentina
tram: Largo di Torre Argentina

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Lonely Planet review

This 16th-century fountain depicts four boys gently hoisting tortoises up into a bowl of water. Apparently, Taddeo Landini created it in a single night in 1585 on behalf of the Duke of Mattei, who had gambled his fortune away and was on the verge of losing his fiancée. On seeing the fountain, Mattei's father-in-law was so impressed that he relented and let Mattei marry his daughter. The tortoises were added by Bernini in 1658.