Innocent X, whose palace fronts the Piazza Navona in Rome, had commissioned Gianlorenzo Bernini to design the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or "Fountain of the Four Rivers" for the center of the piazza.

Constructed at public expense during the intense famine of 1646-48, the city had murmured and talk of riot was in the air.

Pasquinade writers had protested the construction of the fountain in September 1648 by attaching handwritten invectives on the stone blocks used to make the obelisk.

The Pamphili pope, believing the street vendors of the market detracted from the magnificence of the square, had ordered their expulsion from the piazza.

The vendors had refused to move, and the papal police had had to chase them from the piazza.

Roman Jews, in particular, lament the closing of the Navona, since they had been allowed to sell used articles of clothing there at the Wednesday market.

According to a report from the time, an event had been organized to draw people to the Piazza Navona for the fountain’s unveiling to the populace on June 12, 1651.

Wooden scaffolding, overlaid with curtains, has hidden the fountain, though probably not the obelisk, which would have given people an idea that something was being built, but the precise details were unknown.

Once unveiled, the full majesty of the fountain would be apparent, which the celebrations were designed to advertise.

The festival is paid for by the Pamphili family, to be specific, Innocent X.

The most conspicuous item on the Pamphili crest, an olive branch, is brandished by the performers who take part in the event.

Erected in front of the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, and yards from the Pamphil palace, the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi is emblematic of the dynamic and dramatic effects sought by High Baroque artists.

The four gods on the corners of the fountain represent the four major rivers of the world known at the time: the Nile, Danube, Ganges, and Plate.

The design of each god figure has symbolic importance.