Fonte Papacqua

Fed by its own source, the Fonte Papacqua or Regina delle Acque (Queen of the Water) is a clear example of sixteenth century Italian mannerism. The Fonte consists of two groups of sculptures carved directly into the rock.
The central group depicts a giant female figure with goat’s feet and a satyr on her shoulders, surrounded by figures of children and a flock of sheep, with a monumental bust of the god Pan and a young piper on the left. Along the perimeter of one of the two complexes of the Palazzo Chigi-Albani where the fountain is found, particularly striking is Moses making the water spring forth from a rock as some followers prepare to drink it. Finally, water gushes from the nymphaeum housed inside the adjacent grotto, falling like a cascade into a large basin at the foot of the slope on which the palazzo stands.