Hidden in the Sant'Angelo district, in a small square called Piazza Mattei, lies the delightful Turtle Fountain, captivating everyone who passes by with its harmonious and delicate forms.

The Turtle Fountain was built between 1581 and 1588 by Florentine architect Taddeo Landini based on a design by Giacomo Della Porta. The original design called for the four youths, originally designed in marble but later cast in bronze by Landini, to rise from four African marble shells and rest their feet on bronze dolphins. They were to push the dolphins into the upper basin of African grey marble. This element, however, was never built.

The famous turtles, which give the fountain its name and are pushed toward the edge of the upper basin, were only added in 1658 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini during the restoration work commissioned by Pope Alexander VII.
The four turtles were unfortunately the subject of a series of acts of vandalism and theft, which were fortunately followed by their discovery. However, in 1981, the City of Rome decided to permanently replace them with copies and transport the originals to the Capitoline Museums, where they remain today.

Popular legend has it that Duke Mattei, whose palace overlooks the square and who was a gambling enthusiast, one day lost his entire family fortune in one fell swoop. His future father-in-law then refused to give him his daughter in marriage. So, in a single night, to amaze the lord and his daughter, Mattei had a splendid fountain built in front of the palace. The following day, he invited his fiancée and her father to the palace to show them the work, exclaiming: "See what a penniless Mattei is capable of creating in just a few hours!" In memory of the episode, he had the window where they had looked out to admire the fountain bricked up, so that no one else could enjoy the same spectacle from the palace.