Trevi fountain
There are not many days that Rome doesn’t feature in my mind in some form. I lived just outside the city for a number of years, and the effect it has on you is permanent. You leave with a connection that doesn’t fade — a heartfelt pull to return that anyone who has spent real time there will recognise immediately.
This image is from my Rome black and white street series, shot during those years. It is also, in a practical sense, an image that can no longer be made. The Trevi Fountain is now fenced off. Barriers keep visitors at a distance. The close, direct access that allowed a photograph like this — the fountain filling the frame, the stone and water at proximity — is gone. What you are looking at is a document of a Rome that no longer exists in quite this form.
The Fountain and Its History
The Trevi Fountain sits in the Trevi district of Rome, a short walk from the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, and the Colosseum. It is a Baroque masterpiece depicting Oceanus, God of water, surrounded by the statues of Abundance, Salubrity, Tritons, and Hippocampus — an extraordinary piece of sculpture that happens to also be a functioning piece of ancient infrastructure.
The fountain sits atop the Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct developed by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in 19 BC. The water begins as rainfall on the hills to the east of Rome, percolates through miles of volcanic rock, and springs up approximately eight miles east of the city in a small town called Salone. From there it travels northwest through Villa Ada, beneath Villa Borghese, past the gardens of Villa Medici, through Piazza di Spagna, and finally arrives at the Trevi. The primary purpose of the Aqua Virgo was simply to provide clean drinking water to the citizens of Rome. It has been doing so, in one form or another, for over two thousand years.
The name itself is straightforward — the fountain sits at the junction of three streets. Tre vie. Three roads. That is all.
Black and White
The Trevi is one of the most photographed subjects in the world, which creates an obvious problem. Almost every image of it looks the same — colour, crowds, tourist snapshots. Shooting it in black and white strips away the spectacle and gets to the architecture. The Baroque stone, the sculptural mass, the water — all of it reads differently without colour pulling the eye toward surface. What remains is form, shadow, and the sheer physical weight of the thing.
If you find yourself in Rome, visit in the late afternoon or early evening when the light drops and the crowds thin slightly. It is worth the effort. And throw a coin.
This image forms part of my ongoing personal documentary project — black and white street and architecture photography from Rome, Italy, the UK, and beyond. Based in Sandwich, Kent, I work as a portrait and documentary photographer across the UK, London, and internationally. If you would like to discuss a commission or follow the documentary work, visit the Personal Observations gallery or get in touch directly.
Visceral, character-led portraits from honest, quiet human moments. Classical legacy portraiture for private commissions. International, UK, London, based in Sandwich, Kent.