Submitted by Fabrizio Mariotti, Sep 12, 2007 05:27

Dear Mr. Gardner, My Name is Fabrizio Mariotti, Chairman of Mariotti Carlo & Figli S.p.a. a four generation family company dealing with the fabrication of marble, granite and mostly travertine for the international market. We have been involved in the making of the Ara Pacis museum supplyng all the Travertine for the project, I was very surprised and disappointed reading your article, I agree that there is a problem at the fountain: the bad/no mantenance, which has noting to do with the choice of the material: travertine is a sedimentary (not igneous) stone that is formed by the sedimentation of calcium carbonate at the bottom of ancient ponds, basically it is formed in the water and it has no reaction at all in contact with water. There are many examples of fountains made in travertine in Rome and other cities in the world, the most famous among all is the Trevi fountain, that do not have the same problem we have at the Ara Pacis. If any other article will be written about this issue, please help us convincing the "Comune di Roma" to keep the fountain and the surroundings of the museum clean.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.