Italian Fountains you can drink from

There are small daily drinking fountains (fontanelle or nasoni) that are present in so many piazzas, side streets and tucked away corners of cities and villages. Le Fontanelle (little fountains) or Nasoni (big noses) are found all over Italy and in fact Rome alone houses over 2,500 of them that are still in use today! These “fontanelle” supply fresh deliciously free drinking water to thirsty Italian residents as well as tourists, and if you keep your eyes open for them you will be surprised just how many there are. These lovely fountains can be elaborately decorated or very simple with just a spout. They can be big or small or they can be built into a wall. They all seem to be unique though, even the simple ones will have something different about them. You can drink out of the water pouring our from the spout or fill up your bottle. The ones that have the larger spouts (these are the ones I think of as “nasoni”) usually will have a little hole on top of them and if you put your finger over the spout the water will be directed to this little hole and shoot upward.