17 Oct

Frustrated from a rushed morning and his abrupt awaking from a disturbing dream, an old man marches to work past Fontana dell’Acqua Felice.  Suddenly he slows his pace, pausing momentarily in thought and redirects his path towards, instead of past, the fountain.  As tourists and travelers temporarily pause and move again past it, taking a picture here and there, the old man walks up with no trepidation nor hesitation.  The sculpture of Moses towers above him, placed at the center of the fountain, marking the termination of Acqua Felice, named after Pope Sixtus V (Felice Peretti), the pope who reinvigorated the waterways, established pilgrimage roadways, and rebuilt Rome, intending to make the city a holly capital for the western world.  This fountain marked the pope’s triumphs and expressed the importance of water to the city, bringing a fundamental necessity  to all the citizens of Rome.  The old man stands before this monumental history, reaches his hand out, gently cups the water poring from one of the lions’ mouth, wets his hair and in the same fluid motion smooths it back, correcting it from it’s previously neglected state.  Upon finishing, the old man walks away back to his intended route as tourists continue to snap shots and the fountain continues to fulfill it’s civic duty of providing for the citizens of Rome.