Keeping Cool in Roman Summer, Fountains + Parks

Keeping Cool in Roman Summer, Fountains + Parks

It’s July in Italy and that means hot. Hot like living inside of an oven. The best place to be when it’s hot in the city is in a park, in the shade, and preferably near a fountain where you can dip your toes in if need be.

 

View to the Fountain, Villa Pamphili
9 x 12″
Oil on Linen Panel
SOLD

This fountain, one of my favorites that I have painted time and time again, is also a favorite with the locals. Just the other morning there was a group of older men gathered discussing the politics of the day, sitting like ducks in a row with their feet in the water.

As soon as they left a dog had his turn and proceeded to dive in and swim laps in the fountain until he was decidedly cooler.

I return to this fountain for the play of light and shadow and mostly for the pinks and purples that happen in the distance, the water splashing and the magnificence of the surrounding landscape. This park, Villa Pamphili, is Rome’s largest and full of subjects to paint.

La Fontana del Giglio
8 x 10″
Oil on Linen Panel
SOLD

This is a favorite painting of mine that is a closer study of just the fountain done on a moody winter’s day. I love the moss that grows and hangs down as the water drips.

There are thousands of fountains in Rome, but this is decidedly one of my favorites and one that I will come back to and surely paint again.