Bronze epheboi reaching skyward toward a marble basin while delicate turtles clamber over the rim — the Fontana delle Tartarughe in Rome's Piazza Mattei has enchanted visitors since 1581, and this early Italian postcard captures every weathered detail of Giacomo della Porta's Renaissance masterpiece in crisp silver-gelatin tones. The surrounding iron railing and stone bollards frame the composition perfectly, with the crumbling plaster walls of the Mattei quarter visible behind — a neighbourhood that had barely changed since the fountain's commission under Pope Gregory XIII. The card was produced as a "Cartolina Postale Italiana" (Carte Postale), the undivided-back era format used before 1902 in Italy, making this one of the earliest photographic views of this beloved fountain in postcard form. A pencilled "200" in the upper right corner of the reverse suggests dealer or auction house pricing. The tortoise figures themselves were added later — possibly by Bernini — lending the fountain its popular name and the turtles their mythic fame among Roman folklore enthusiasts.