The Fountain of the Lions (Fontana dei Leoni) is the most central one of the three fountains in the Piazza del Popolo in Rome. It is also known under the name Fountain of the Obelisk, after the Obelisco Flaminio.
Fountain of the Lions (Piazza del Popolo Rome)
The fountain as it can be admired nowadays is not the original one, which was commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII and built by Giacomo della Porta.
Though Pope Leo XII Della Genga found Della Porta‘s creation of artistic merit, he also judged it to be too small in size compared to the dimensions of the Piazza del Popolo itself , and thus he ordered Giuseppe Valadier to redesign a fountain for the obelisk.
Valadiers creation features four marble lions around the obelisk itself. Five steps lead to a base containing a round travertine marble basin.
The original fountain was moved to the Piazza Nicosia.