Who Built the Trevi Fountain? Architects and Sculptors Explained

The short answer (and why it isn't enough)

If someone asks "who built the Trevi Fountain," the textbook answer is Nicola Salvi. He designed it. He won the commission. His vision drove every element of the architecture.

But Salvi died eleven years before the fountain was completed, never sculpted any of the statues himself, and inherited a brief originally intended for someone else. So the real answer is closer to: a Roman architect named Salvi, a Florentine architect whose win was overturned, four popes who footed the bill, and a team of seven sculptors who carved the figures you photograph today. Let's unpack each of them.

Nicola Salvi — the architect

Nicola Salvi (1697–1751) was a Roman architect, painter, and amateur poet. Before the Trevi he was almost unknown — he had worked on a handful of theatrical sets and minor restoration jobs. He was 33 when he won the Trevi commission. He would never complete another major work.

Salvi's defining decision was to refuse the conventional approach. Earlier proposals (including a famous one by Bernini) treated the fountain as a freestanding monument in the center of a piazza. Salvi instead built it directly into the rear wall of Palazzo Poli, turning a private palace into the world's most theatrical urban backdrop.

He supervised construction personally for 19 years. He reportedly contracted serious lung disease from the constant damp conditions on the building site and refused to leave the project even as his health failed. He died on 8 February 1751. The fountain wouldn't be finished for another eleven years.

The controversial competition

Pope Clement XII opened a public competition in 1730. A frequently repeated account claims that the Florentine architect Alessandro Galilei — a distant relative of Galileo — initially impressed the judges, but that opposition to awarding another major Roman commission to a Florentine contributed to the selection of Nicola Salvi instead.

The story is colourful, and modern summaries do not all describe the outcome the same way: the official Rome account simply states that Salvi's project was chosen. What is documented is that Galilei went on to design the façade of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, which still stands.

Salvi received the commission in 1731 and construction began the following year.

The four popes who paid for it

The Trevi Fountain was funded entirely from papal coffers — and four different popes contributed across the 30-year construction:

• Clement XII (1730–1740): Opened the competition and broke ground in 1732. His coat of arms appears at the top of the fountain.
• Benedict XIV (1740–1758): Kept the project funded during the middle years and approved Salvi's expensive revisions, including the lower travertine "scogliera" (rocky bank).
• Clement XIII (1758–1769): Inaugurated the finished fountain on 22 May 1762. His name appears in the Latin inscription across the entablature.
• Honorable mention — Urban VIII (1623–1644): Commissioned the never-built Bernini version a century earlier, and demolished surrounding buildings to clear the site. The piazza we walk through today was effectively cleared on Urban's orders.

The total cost was never fully recorded, but contemporary accounts suggest the project drained the papal treasury repeatedly — one of the reasons construction stalled for years at a time.

Pietro Bracci — Oceanus and the sea horses

The commanding central figure standing on the shell-chariot is Oceanus, often miscalled "Neptune" by guides. The distinction matters: Oceanus is the personification of all water, not just the sea. He was sculpted by the Roman sculptor Pietro Bracci (1700–1773), one of the leading sculptors of late-Baroque Rome.

Bracci's contract also covered the two sea horses (hippocamps) — one calm, one wild, symbolizing the contrasting moods of water — and the two Tritons who guide them. He worked from a clay model originally prepared by Giovanni Battista Maini before Maini's death; Bracci completed the marbles between 1759 and 1762.

Bracci is also responsible for the tomb of Pope Benedict XIV in St. Peter's. His work on the Trevi remains his best-known commission. For more on what each figure means, see the meaning of the Trevi Fountain statues explained.

Filippo della Valle — Abundance and Salubrity

The two female allegorical figures standing in the niches that flank Oceanus were sculpted by Filippo della Valle (1698–1768), a Florentine sculptor based in Rome.

On the left, Abundance holds an overflowing cornucopia, with an overturned urn at her feet from which water pours. On the right, Salubrity (Health) holds a cup from which a snake drinks — a classical attribute of healing taken from the iconography of the goddess Hygieia.

Della Valle also designed the two bas-reliefs above the niches: on the left, the legendary virgin pointing out the water source to Roman soldiers; on the right, Agrippa approving the construction of the Aqua Virgo aqueduct in 19 BC. These are the only narrative scenes on the entire fountain.

Giuseppe Pannini — finished the job

When Salvi died in 1751, the fountain was perhaps two-thirds complete. The basin was excavated, the architectural shell was finished, but the sculptural program was unfinished and the upper attic level needed major rework.

Pope Benedict XIV appointed Giuseppe Pannini (1718–1765) — son of the more famous painter Giovanni Paolo Pannini — to complete the work. Pannini revised Salvi's plans for the upper level, possibly designed the four allegorical reliefs of the seasons that crown the attic, and oversaw the installation of the major statues by Bracci and della Valle. He delivered the finished fountain in May 1762.

Full sculptor credits

For the full historical arc that put all these people on the same construction site, see the fascinating history of the Trevi Fountain.

Sources and further reading

• Turismo Roma — official Trevi Fountain page (commission, dates, sculptural programme)
• Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali (monument and restoration records)
• Treccani — Nicola Salvi (biography and attribution)
• Treccani — Pietro Bracci (sculptor of Oceanus)
• Roma Capitale (official monument notices)

Continue reading about the Trevi Fountain

Plan the visit itself

• Complete Trevi Fountain visitor guide
• Trevi Fountain map & what's nearby
• Pantheon to Trevi walking route
• Spanish Steps to Trevi walk
• Half a day around the Trevi Fountain
• One day in Rome itinerary

Frequently Asked Questions

Who actually designed the Trevi Fountain?

Nicola Salvi, a Roman architect, designed the Trevi Fountain in 1732 after winning a controversial competition. He worked on it for the next 19 years until his death in 1751.

Who finished the Trevi Fountain after Salvi died?

Giuseppe Pannini, working from Salvi's original plans. He oversaw the final decade of construction and was responsible for the 1762 inauguration. Many of the upper-level decorative figures (the four allegorical figures of agricultural abundance above the entablature) are also attributed to Pannini's revisions.

Who sculpted the statue of Oceanus on the Trevi?

Pietro Bracci sculpted the central figure of Oceanus and the two sea horses (hippocamps). The two Tritons guiding the horses are also typically attributed to Bracci's workshop.

Was Bernini involved in the Trevi Fountain?

Not directly — Bernini died decades before construction began. But Bernini did produce a 1640s design for a rebuilt fountain on this site under Pope Urban VIII. The project was abandoned after Urban's death, and Salvi later borrowed Bernini's idea of integrating the fountain into the Palazzo Poli façade.

How long did it take to build the Trevi Fountain?

30 years, from 1732 to 1762. The delays were mostly due to funding gaps as papacies changed, plus the death of Salvi in 1751 and the time needed to complete the major sculptural commissions.