The Fountain of the Naiads has its background in a desire to display water from Rome's Acqua Pia Antica Marcia, built as a restoration of the ancient Aqua Marcia and commissioned by Pope Pius IX, and was made to create something monumental for the Via Nazionale.

[3] Rutelli's original centre piece was considered unsuitable and moved to the garden of the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II.

[1] The Fountain of the Naiads is located at the centre of the Piazza della Repubblica on the Viminal Hill.

At the centre of the fountain, a sculpture of the sea god Glaucus symbolises the domination over natural forces.

Glaucus is depicted as a naked and muscular man and the sculpture is reminiscent of the works of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.