In 1587, a hospice for the indigent was established at the north end of the Ponte Sisto by Pope Sixtus V. The building, erected by Domenico Fontana, and included a large chapel or church (no longer extant), dedicated to St Francis of Assisi (San Francesco a Ponte Sisto or San Francesco ai Mendicanti).

This hospice, called the Zoccolette was established under Pope Innocent XII, and functioned into the 19th century, when it was renamed the Conservatorio di Santi Clemente e Crescentino under the administration by the Padri delle Scuole Pie (Piarists).

Additionally, water spouted from both the mouths of two lion faces and from dragons (symbols of the Borghese family) carved in to the pedestal of the column bases.

By the 1870s, the northern banks flanking the Tiber, a strip of land prone to flooding, were cleared in order to build the Lungotevere, leading to the dismantlement of the fountain in 1879, many of the stones were used for landfill.

The council of Rome decided to re-erect the fountain in its new location in 1898, even though the architect Angelo Vescovali could only find about half the original stones of the monument.