The travertine fountain, known as Vanvitelli, is located on a wall of the port that was built to protect the port and also to separate the "free" zone from the urban area of Civitavecchia.
It was built in 1740 under Benedict XIV, with a project by the great Luigi Vanvitelli, more famous as the architect of the Royal Palace of Caserta.
The fountain was one of the infrastructure elements of the city aqueduct that had been restored in 1702, partially rebuilding the aqueduct of Trajan.
The aqueduct followed a path of about 34 km from the source of the Cinque Bottini and the Saints Trinity of Allumiere up to an area in the city that was one of the points accessible to the population.
The Vanvitelli fountain then replaced a previous simple basin with a marble aedicule enclosing a plaque engraved with the story of the fountain. Below the headstone is a faun head from which water spurts into a large curved travertine pool.
At one time this fountain ended with a large curved stairway that led down to the sea and which had become a meeting point where the 'life' of the city took place. The staircase was then incorporated and became part of the "Prince Tommaso" descent.
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