Rome Italy
2016

Via di S.Sebastianello connects Piazza di Spagna to Viale della Trinità dei Monti and is so named due to the presence in the past of an image of S.Sebastiano, painted in a chapel once located here and which, due to its small size, it was indicated with the diminutive that has come down to us. In ancient times the road was called "Salita di S.Sebastianello" and also "degli Olmi", due to the presence of these trees along the road. In 1733 the portion of the retaining wall of the overlying viale della Trinità dei Monti collapsed, destroying the ancient chapel: in its place was built a large vaulted niche with a broken frame, inside which there is place a coat of arms.

At the center of the niche was also placed the empty frame that once kept the picture of the saint and under this, in 1967, a small fountain was placed consisting of a Christian sarcophagus from the 4th century. Rectangular in shape, just raised from the ground by two low travertine parallelepipeds, the sarcophagus has, on the front side, carved, a portrait of the deceased in the center and the repeated image of the Good Shepherd on both sides; from inside the sarcophagus three jets of water come out and fall into the pool on the ground.