A typical traveler’s itinerary for Rome includes its most famous landmarks: the Colosseum, Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, Trevi Fountain, Roman Forum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and Galleria Borghese. Few, however, seek out the locations immortalized in Ottorino Respighi’s tone poems.
Respighi composed three pieces that capture the essence of Rome through music: Feste Romane (Roman Festivals), Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome), and Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome). When my husband, Glen, and I made our first trip to Rome in 2017, two of these—Pines of Rome and Fountains of Rome—became the centerpiece of our itinerary.
Glen had a treasured recording of The Pines and Fountains of Rome, performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Arturo Toscanini (1951). Unlike today’s digital albums, a 33 rpm vinyl record provided ample space for program notes and photographs. Glen's album featured images of each fountain Respighi depicted in his music and images close to the location of the pines. With those images saved on his phone and some careful research to pinpoint their locations, Glen crafted an itinerary unlike any other. He even included a stop at a section of the Roman aqueduct, which was featured as a double-page spread in the album.
The Fountains of Rome
The fountains were the easiest to find—they are, after all, tangible landmarks. Though Fountains of Rome was completed in 1916, each of these fountains still stands today. The real challenge, however, was capturing them at the specific times of day that Respighi envisioned in his composition. Beyond timing, each fountain presented its own unique obstacles.
Valle Giulia at Dawn
Photographing the Fountain of Valle Giulia at dawn was a battle against our own internal clocks. We hadn’t been in Rome long enough to adjust to the time difference, and waking before sunrise felt unnatural. It took a couple of attempts before we managed to arrive in time to capture the soft morning light that Respighi must have envisioned.
Triton Fountain in Morning Traffic
The Triton Fountain posed a different kind of challenge—it sits in the middle of a bustling traffic circle in one of Rome’s busiest areas. Morning traffic was especially heavy, and the only way to get close was to weave through moving cars. It was a daunting prospect that made me briefly question whether Respighi was worth the risk. In the end, we visited the fountain twice, determined to find the perfect light.
Trevi Fountain at Noon
Noon is perhaps the worst time to visit Trevi Fountain—the crowds reach their peak, pressing in from every direction. Getting a clear view required great patience as we waited for gaps in the throng to inch our way to the front. But when we finally stood before it, the sunlight illuminating the cascading water, it was worth every jostling moment.
Villa Medici Fountain at Sunset
Unlike Trevi Fountain, the Villa Medici Fountain is not a major tourist attraction. Nestled on a hill in front of the Villa, it is an unassuming structure—a simple sphere from which water trickles into a quiet pool. At sunset, however, it transforms. The warm evening glow gave it a contemplative beauty. The challenge with Medici Fountain was that not many people pay attention to it. Located next to the street, parked cars make it difficult to capture a car-free image. We visited the fountain on a few different days and waited for a unobstructed view. The actual name of the fountain is Trinità dei Monti Church Fountain, because it is located near a rather large pink church with two bell towers.
The Pines of Rome
Stone pines (Pinus pinea), the dominant pine species in Rome, can live 100 to 200 years. Pines of Rome was composed almost a century before our visit, so we wondered: Were we looking at the same trees that Respighi had seen, or had time and urban development reshaped the landscape?
Villa Borghese
The pines of Villa Borghese were just a short walk from our hotel, the Splendide Royal. It was easy to imagine the lively, swirling energy of Respighi’s music echoing through the park, capturing the carefree spirit of children at play beneath the pines. While Glen found the location of the monument and pines shown in his Toscanini album, it's a bit difficult to see which trees are exactly the same. It appears as if at least one of the trees has the same branching pattern. The extensive grounds of the Villa Borghese, however, are filled with pines, so I imagine Reshpighi's tone poem reflects the grandeur of the entire grounds.
Janiculum
The pines on Janiculum Hill were easy to find. The building in the old photograph was still standing, and the street was lined with pines. Glen simply adjusted his angle to match the framing of the original image. The view, largely unchanged, felt like a bridge between Respighi’s Rome and our own.
Catacombs and the Appian Way
Two of the pine locations were in the Regional Park of the Appian Way. The Appian Way, one of the oldest roads built by the Romans, stretches for miles beyond the city. The 3,500 hectare regional park is a step into the past. The ancient road is lined with monuments, trees, and fields, dotted by the occasional small restaurant or inn. Given the road’s 16 km length and its location outside the city center, we hired a driver to make the search easier. Our challenge was to find the landmarks in the album’s photographs and assume the pines closest to them were Respighi’s.
As we wound our way along the increasingly narrow road, our driver grew visibly uneasy. Would his limo make it over the ancient cobblestones? Would he have to drive in reverse to get out? Eventually, we suggested that he let us walk while he took a different route and met us at the edge of the park. It was the right decision. Walking the ancient road, surrounded by ruins and monuments, made the miles slip by unnoticed. We managed to find the two sections of the Appian Way referenced in the tone poem, imagining the solemn grandeur of the music as we stood beneath the pines.
The Pines Near a Catacomb were near the San Callisto, Domitilla catacombs. While we didn’t go inside the catacomb grounds, we returned another day to visit the San Sebastiano Catacombs, located closer to the park’s entrance.
There are many pines on the Appian Way, so Glen chose a location that looked to be similar to the pines shown in Toscanin album. It appears that the ruins are the sam.
The Roman Aqueduct
After reuniting with our driver at the end of the Appian Way, we set out to find the Roman aqueduct featured in the Toscanini album. This search led us far from the well-worn tourist paths and into a part of Rome where our driver, looking increasingly uneasy, strongly suggested we stay in the car.
But how could we abandon this part of our itinerary?
We hopped out and picked our way through the dense underbrush, our driver watching from a safe distance, shaking his head but staying close in case our quest took a turn for the worse.
We found the aqueduct, but fences and other modern obstacles made it impossible to recreate the original image from the same angle. Glen did his best. When we emerged from the brush, our driver looked visibly relieved to see us.
Still unwilling to give up, we asked our driver to take us to another potential vantage point, but that land was now privately owned with no accessible entry. Meanwhile, the road once traveled by horse-drawn carts had transformed into a highway and railway track. To capture the scene as it once was, Glen would have had to scale multiple chain-link fences, hop over the tracks, and dodge traffic on the highway. Even if he managed all that, the view might still have been obscured by trees and bushes.
Realizing he had captured the best image possible under the circumstances, Glen called it a day—to the great relief of our driver.
Other Historic Sites
The Toscanini album is a treasure trove of old photos. In addition to the pines and fountains locations, it includes several other well-know sites. Our itinerary included finding those sites as well.
Reflections
Our quest for the pines and fountains gave us a deeper appreciation of Rome’s history. In 1915, when Respighi was composing Pines of Rome, the city’s population was between 550,000 and 600,000. By the time we visited in 2017, it had grown to 2.87 million. What was Rome like a hundred years ago, before fast-moving traffic and the urbanization that reshaped the city?
At each site, I’d close my eyes and try to hear the splash of the fountains, the singing of the birds, and the sound of the wind through the pines. These were the experiences that inspired Ottorino Respighi to compose his tone poems. And for a moment, standing beneath those trees, we could hear them too.
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