At the center of the south wall of the courtyard stands a monumental fountain. Originally placed at the entrance of the Vatican Palace by Paul V in 1614, it was removed during the construction of Bernini’s colonnade and later donated to the Palazzo del Commendatore by Alexander VII in 1677. The fountain is crowned by a broken pediment, at the center of which appears a dragon surmounted by an eagle, the heraldic emblems of Paul V. On either side, two pilasters in gray marble with Ionic capitals frame the composition. Below the dedicatory inscription of Alexander VII, within a shell-shaped niche, a cherub holding a cornucopia is flanked by two small dragons. Beneath him, two grotesque faces support a basin from which water once flowed into three smaller basins below. The entire structure is completed at the bottom by a large mask set into the semicircular collection basin.
