Wednesday Wisdom

WHO

Nicola Salvi was a prominent Italian architect born August 6, 1687, in Rome. Salvi initially studied mathematics and philosophy at the Roman Academy of Arcadia. This academy sought to revive classical values in art and literature, promoting clarity, balance, and moral seriousness. Arcadia refers to a mythical, pastoral region in Greece, often idealized in poetry as a place of rural peace, harmony, and simplicity. It helped move Italy away from the Baroque style and laid the groundwork for Neoclassicism, which highlighted the classical and pastoral ideals of ancient Rome and Greece.

Building a legacy

Between 300 B.C and 100 A.D., Rome built a vast array of aqueducts to gather and distribute water to the city of Rome. The Vandals and Visigoths sacking of Rome in the 5th century A.D. included destroying 10 of the 11 aqueducts and damaged the once important infrastructure of Rome. This left most of the Roman citizens to collect rainwater or use the Tiber River as their source. The one remaining aqueduct and spring source is Aqua Virgo which by fables told the story of a Virgin maiden leading Marcus Agrippa to the spot of the spring. Marcus Agrippa was a stateman and the right-hand man of Emperor Augustus and is credited with building Rome’s infrastructure including aqueducts and the Pantheon leading to a long period of peace and prosperity known as Pax Romana.

Pope Urban VIII commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to design a new fountain at the site of the Aqua Virgo around 1629. Bernini built multiple statues and fountains in Rome which showcased the Baroque style of emotion, movement and to inspire spirituality. However, the project was halted after the pope's death in 1644, and only minor groundwork was completed. In 1732, Pope Clement XII decided to finish the project and held a competition to design a new public fountain that sits at the end of Aqua Virgo since renamed Acqua Vergine. Water being integral part of Rome and a symbol of life, it is also a reflection on Catholic doctrine of baptism and sign of purification. Initially, Clement picked Florentine Alessandro Galilei, which brought an uproar from Roman citizenry. Reopening the competition, Salvi's design was selected over several other Romans, including those by Ferdinando Fuga and Luigi Vanvitelli. Although Salvi passed away on February 8, 1751, before the fountain's completion, his friend Pietro Bracci finalized the construction in 1762.

Baroque and Neo Classical in 2025

Las Vegas, Singapore and Moscow have grand and majestic water fountains that enhance the cities appeal. However, no other fountain matches Trevi fountain aesthetic beauty and in its cultural significance to their cities.

Ironically given Salvi’s education at Arcadia academy in Neoclassicism, the Trevi Fountain reflects Bernini’s theatrical and dynamic Baroque aesthetic, particularly the sense of movement, grandeur, and emotional impact. Salvi’s Neoclassicism is reflected in the mythology and storytelling across the travertine stone structure. The central figure is of the Greek god “Oceanus” rising in triumph, flanked by horses and tritons which are mythical creatures of half man, half fish. The tritons are holding the horses’ reins with one horse calm, the other bucking reflecting the changing mood of the oceans and of Romes history. Either side of “Oceanus” are two statues that one represents abundance as she holds a horn of plenty while the other represents “health” as she feeds a serpent from a cup. Above the statue of “Abundance” is a bas-relief (sculpted image above the surface) depicting Agrippa and his soldiers building the aqueduct and above “Health” depicts the story of the virgin maiden showing the Roman soldiers the source of the Aqua Virgo or virgin water. The four statues that sit on top of the fountain represent the importance and abundance of what water brings in fruit, wheat, grapes/wine and flowers.

Trevi fountain is Rome largest and represents over 2,000 years of historical, mythological, cultural and religious significance. It combines and spans the cultural, artistic and philosophical ideals of baroque and neo classical times and remains a worldwide icon.

Turning your back to the fountain and with your right hand throwing a coin over your left shoulder, the magic of the Trevi fountain will assure your return to the “Eternal City” of Rome.

And now you know...

Thanks, Dad, for the gift of curiosity!

Philosophy is the art of thinking, the building block of progress that shapes critical thinking across economics, ethics, religion, and science.

METAPHYSICS: Literally, the term metaphysics means ‘beyond the physical.’ Typically, this is the branch that most people think of when they picture philosophy. In metaphysics, the goal is to answer the what and how questions in life. Who are we, and what are time and space?

LOGIC: The study of reasoning. Much like metaphysics, understanding logic helps to understand and appreciate how we perceive the rest of our world. More than that, it provides a foundation for which to build and interpret arguments and analyses.

ETHICS: The study of morality, right and wrong, good and evil. Ethics tackles difficult conversations by adding weight to actions and decisions. Politics takes ethics to a larger scale, applying it to a group (or groups) of people. Political philosophers study political governments, laws, justice, authority, rights, liberty, ethics, and much more.

AESTHETICS: What is beautiful? Philosophers try to understand, qualify, and quantify what makes art what it is. Aesthetics also takes a deeper look at the artwork itself, trying to understand the meaning behind it, both art as a whole and art on an individual level. A question an aesthetics philosopher would seek to address is whether or not beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

EPISTEMOLOGY: This is the study and understanding of knowledge. The main question is how do we know? We can question the limitations of logic, how comprehension works, and the ability (or perception) to be certain.