Scattered across Rome are some 2,500 small cast-iron fountains that locals call nasoni — big noses — for their curved spouts. They run constantly, pour cold and perfectly drinkable water, and cost nothing. Refill a bottle at one and you have opted out of the city’s three-euro tourist tax on thirst.
The water has pedigree. Part of the supply still arrives through aqueducts first laid down in antiquity, maintained and rebuilt across two thousand years. You are, in a small daily way, drinking from the same system that watered the empire.
The trick with a nasone
Cover the spout’s opening with a finger and the water jets upward from a small hole on top, turning the fountain into a drinking fountain. Romans do it without breaking stride. Once you know, you will never queue for bottled water in Rome again.
