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On this Photo Friday, Susan Sanders brings us lovely images of the recently restored Turtle Fountain in Rome’s Piazza Mattei.

There’s a great legend about this fountain that suggests that it was constructed at the order of a prince of the Mattei family.  The prince was utterly enamored of a lovely noblewoman, but her father would not let them marry.  Eager to impress and to win the hand of his beloved, the prince invited both father and daughter to dinner in his palace overlooking Piazza Mattei.  While they dined, he had this fountain constructed in the middle of the piazza, and after dinner, when the prince showed off his accomplishment, the father of his beloved was so impressed by what the prince had managed to accomplish in just a few hours, that he agreed to allow the marriage.

It probably didnt’ happen that way, but that certainly doesn’t diminish its charm.

Truth be told, the fountain was built between 1581 and 1588 by Giacomo della Porta and Taddeo Landini, but the turtles were added in 1658 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini or Andrea Sacchi on Pope Alexander VII’s request.

For more photos of Susan Sanders, visit her website: Rome With A View.