The Public Drinking Fountains of Rome

Rome can be an expensive city. One of the best ways of saving money — and saving the environment at the same time — is by using your own water supply. How is that even possible? By using a feature the ancient Romans were kind enough to leave as a legacy: the large number of free, and very safe, public drinking fountains.

In Italian they’re called “Nasoni”, and you’ll see them all over the city… In the singular, the word is “Nasone” (pronounced “na-soh-nay”) and it means “big nose”. You can kind of see why… Made of cast iron, they stand about three feet tall and weigh in at an impressive 200 lbs. There are 2,500 of them scattered around the metropolitan area, and you can find some of the oldest in the Trastevere district.

They’re used every day by locals who would no more think of paying street vendors for an overpriced bottle of water than fly. Why would you? That’s all very well but – is the water safe for drinking? It’s not only safe, it’s ice-cold, and it’s fresh. Just what you need to keep hydrated on a hot summer’s day. Or any other time, […]

Full article: The drinking fountains of Rome.