After a year of painstaking restoration work, the Turtle Fountain in Piazza Mattei in Rome was inaugurated on 20 July. The fountain was built between 1581 and 1588 by Giacomo della Porta and Taddeo Landini, but the turtles from which it gets its name were added in 1658 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini or Andrea Sacchi on Pope Alexander VIIs request. After a turtle was stolen in 1979, the current reptiles are all copies of the originals.

This restoration is part of the city council plan to give back to Romans and visitors a fully renovated historic centre. Walter Veltroni, the mayor of Rome, said at the inauguration. The restoration cost around 250,000 and was financed and supervised by Sovvrintendenza dei Beni Culturali in co-operation with Rome city authorities.