Piazza della Repubblica

Piazza della Repubblica is a semi-circular piazza in Rome, at the summit of the Viminal Hill, next to the Termini station. Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. Built by Cardinal Jean du Bellay; on his death in 1560, the land was purchased by Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, and eventually he came to the possession of Cardinal Alessandro Sforza in 1579. The fountain in this square was originally the fountain of the Acqua Pia, commissioned this site by Pope Pius IX in 1870. Completed in 1888, it originally showed four chalk lions designed by Alessandro Guerrieri. These were then replaced in 1901 with sculptures of Naiads by Mario Rutelli from Palermo, the great-grandfather of the politician and former mayor of Rome, Francesco Rutelli. The naiads represented are the Nymph of the Lakes (recognisable by the swan she holds), the Nymph of the Rivers (stretched out on a monster of the rivers), the Nymph of the Oceans (riding a horse symbolising of the sea), and the Nymph of the Underground Waters (leaning over a mysterious dragon). In the centre is Rutelli’s Glauco group, symbolizing the dominion of the man over natural force and replacing a previous sculpture.