A pair of important Lapis Lazuli tanks

decorated with rings and leonine heads, made from the model of Bigio granite twin tanks in Piazza Farnese in Rome. The two fountains were built by 1626 for the will of the Farnese family as an ornament of the square in front of their residence. Girolamo Rainaldi, author of the project, made re-use of two monumental Roman granite tanks which were already on the square. The provenance of the two ancient tanks is not entirely clear. According to different sources, they came to Farnese Square from the Baths of Caracalla at different times and with alternate events: in 1545, at the time of pavement with pavilion of the square, a press testifies the presence of a single basin placed on the axis with the portal of the building And only at the end of the sixteenth century, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese found that a second tank had been transported to the square, already in S. Marco square for more than a century and believed to have come from the Baths of Caracalla., 46,5x121,5x61,5 cm.