Nilo -- Fontana -- Piazza Navona

Speranza



The Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona, Rome, is a work of Bernini's maturity and like all his sculptures is is informed by a special meaning appart from its aesthetic interest.

The personifications of the four rivers -- the Ganges, the Nile, the Danube and the River Plate -- symbolise the four corners of the earth, and also the four rivers of Paradise.

The dove perched on top of the obelisk surmounting the immense rock on which the rivers are seated, is the emblem of Pope Innocent X, thus proclaiming the universal power of the Church.