07 February 2025

Review: 21062 Trevi Fountain from LEGO® Architecture

Posted by Elspeth De Montes

Revealed last month, 21062 Trevi Fountain is the next landmark from LEGO® Architecture. Tim was able to see the set in person and interview LEGO Designer Mary Wilson during the LEGO® Fan Media Days last year, and now I have a pre-release copy to examine in detail for you.

Set 21062 Trevi Fountain is available to pre-order now in advance of its 1 March 2025 release, but first let me transport you to a sunny day in Italy, to build, as they do in Rome.

Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
This article contains affiliate links to LEGO.com; we may get a small commission if you purchase.

21062 Trevi Fountain

  • Release date: 1 March 2025, pre-order available now
  • Pieces: 1880
Price, and links to pre-order: 

Other countries click here

Lego Architecture 21062 Trevi Fountain – FMD reveal

New moulds

6x3 Half Dome (LEGO part 1202)

There is one new mould in the set, although Mary Wilson mentioned that it was not developed for this set.

  • 6 x 3 Half Dome in Light Nougat (6541427 | 1202)


It has a diameter of 6 modules, is 7 plates high at the highest point and 3 modules deep with a semicircular footprint.


The new dome fits with  Arch 1 x 4 x 3 (80543), and indeed is paired with this arch in the set.

Comparing the other curve to other arches, there are three that are a reasonable approximation:


From top to bottom we have:


The dome's curve on the horizontal plane does not quite match the vertical. In order to make this a quarter-sphere, the dome needs to be raised a half-plate. Raising it up using brackets (shown above in teal) positions the dome with the two Plate, Modified 4 x 4 with 3 x 3 Curved Cutout (35044, shown in nougat).




In terms of filling the internal space,  the 4x2 semicircular area at the base can be completed with two 2x2 macaroni tiles (27925) and a 1x2 half circle tile (1748), for example.


The 4x4 Hemisphere (86500, 35320) slots in height-wise if it is raised one plate higher, although there are gaps at the sides as expected. 



The new Brick Round Corner, Curved 2 x 2 x 1 2/3 Quarter Circle with 1 Cutout (5906) is an element that makes a satisfying 4x4 sphere or, as shown above, a quarter-sphere. Like the hemisphere, it results in gaps around the base.

Recolours

There are only four recoloured elements.

  • 2x Animal Body Part, Horse Head (Toy Horse) in White (6550130 | 77073) has only ever appeared once before, printed, as the hobby horse in LEGO® Minifigures in 2022.
  • 2x Brick Round Corner 3 x 3 Macaroni with 2 Studs in Trans-Light Blue (6537848 | 5152)
  • 1x Cylinder Half 3 x 6 x 6 with 1 x 2 Cutout in Light Nougat (6537849 | 87926, 35347)
  • 12x Plate 1 x 12 in Light Nougat (6537846 | 60479)

New print


The Tile 1 x 8 in Black with 'Trevi Fountain' print (6523042) is almost a reprint. An extremely similar tile appeared in the smaller 2014 LEGO Architecture set 21020 Trevi Fountain; the only difference being that The LEGO Group have changed their corporate typeface since then. 

Rare elements

There are three elements which have only appeared once before.



Minifigures

For the first time in a LEGO Architecture set, there are minifigures included. 


Specifically, there are three and... erm... two half-minifigures in the set, but none of their elements are new.

Elements in quantity

There are quite a lot of elements that come in a significant quantity in this set, which I have classed as bring greater than 20 of each. 

  • 28x Plate Special 1 x 3 Rounded with 3 Open Studs in White (6550184 | 77850)
  • 24x Antenna 1 x 4 with Flat Top in White (6550147 | 3957)
  • 23x Plate 1 x 3 in White (6550144 | 3623)
  • 21x Plate Special 1 x 2 Jumper in White (6550152 | 15573)
  • 27x Slope 30° 1 x 1 x 2/3 (Cheese Slope) in White (6550179 | 54200)
  • 65x Plate Special 1 x 2 Rounded with 2 Open Studs in White (6550175 | 35480)


  • 21x  Panel 1 x 6 x 5 in White (4504228 | 59349)

  • 39x Tile 1 x 2  in Trans-Light Blue (6514224 | 35386)
  • 54x Tile 1 x 4  in Trans-Light Blue (6252049 | 35371)

  • 54x  Plate 1 x 1 in White (6548262 | 3024)
  • 39x  Plate 1 x 2 in White (6548261 | 3023)
  • 28x  Brick 1 x 2 in White (6548257 | 3004)
  • 21x Brick 1 x 3 in Light Nougat (6357794 | 3622)
  • 32x Plate 1 x 3 with 2 Studs (Jumper) in Brick Yellow/ Tan (6211966 | 34103)
  • 33x Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Vertical  in Brick Yellow/ Tan (6029889 | 60897, 44860)

The old LEGO Trevi Fountain


As mentioned, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a LEGO version of the Trevi Fountain. A 731-piece version of the iconic Italian landmark was released back in 2014 as set 21020 Trevi Fountain (reviewed by Tim at the time), also part of the LEGO Architecture theme and priced at £39.99/US$49.99/€49.99. It was retired in 2016. 

This updated recreation of the actual fountain uses an impressive amount of colour, and Mary Wilson explained this change during our interview.
"We wanted to create the general vibe of a visit on a warm, sunny day. Within the piazza there are buildings that surround this façade painted with bright, warm, vibrant hues. The light gets captured in the piazza and reflects to give this overall warm sunshine over it. We really wanted to capture that, which led us to using a slightly more saturated color than we normally use in the LEGO Architecture line. The light nougat really brings some more life into this model." 
– Mary Wilson, Designer, The LEGO Group


Instructions

As with most LEGO Architecture sets, the instructions are full of information about the actual subject and its cultural significance. 


My favourite image is this overview that describes each of the statues, but there are lots of interesting tidbits of information to be found during the building process.

The build

Base area



We start of building the footprint of the model and it's immediately clear that the largest proportion of the model is, quite rightly, the actual fountain in the foreground, with a narrower section of façade behind (which is actually a separate entity; the Palazzo Poli).



The water within the fountain uses a graduated colour scheme of plates to give the impression of varying depth. The whole section is covered in trans-blue tiles; a most inviting colour for water.




There's a nice little Easter egg hidden inside the base: two "5" coins are placed before being covered up by the water.  In our interview with the set designer, Mary did say we would have to build it to find out if there were any coins present! 

The instructions note:
Roughly €3000 worth of coins are tossed into the fountain daily. They are collected at the end of the day, and a large portion of the offerings is donated to charities.
According to local legend, if you throw a coin in the fountain then you are destined to return to Rome so I can imagine a lot of visitors feel compelled to toss a coin or two into the fountain's waters.




The rockwork and the flowing waterfall section are both built using SNOT techniques. Sections of each simply slot into place giving the contrast of neatly flowing of and haphazard rockwork which is asymmetrical.  The instructions note that the different colours of light bluish grey and dark tan represent the different erosion degrees that the rock suffers with the constant flow.

Building up



A particularly nice technique is used to create the window trim, using the antenna (3957) and 1 x 3 rounded plate with open studs (77850) and then inverting.




The Cylinder Half 3 x 6 x 6 recoloured in Light Nougat (35347) slots into place along with the column sections on either side. Since this element has no internal studs, there's a few nice connections from the front to allow columns to be placed within the cylinder. There is a mix of off-set building at the front and in grid at the back which creates a lot of varying depth to the façade, despite its slim proportions.



This same window trim technique is used for the windows on the next level too,  although their detailing is different. 



Final details


With the windows all in place, some great details are added: the Corinthian pillars and small columns on the top cornice are formed using 1 x 1 round plates with bar on underside (79194) and 1 x 1 tiles with clip (15712, 44842).



The groups of kneeling and standing figures depicted on the left and right of the relief are represented by a frog (28841) and a minifigure trophy element (53017). These seem to fit the bill rather well.



The first of two final details to be added is the central papal coat of arms of Clement XII, the pope who commissioned the Trevi Fountain.



Then finally, the two horse-like sculptures.  These represent the two hippocampi: mythical creatures that are half horse, half fish.


The horse sculptures make great use of the horse head in white which, as mentioned, appeared printed as the hobby horse used by the Knight of the Yellow Castle in LEGO Minifigures series 23.

Final build



The final model is both detailed and attractive. Even though I was uncertain at first, the colour scheme does work well, and I agree that the use of light nougat and tan helps to add depth and allow details of the Palazzo Poli to stand out.



The back is certainly very white, sleek and tidy; this is obviously a model to be viewed from the front.



One issue that has been raised by some is the use of minifigures within the set. The minifigures represent the figures in the sculpture.  I'm not sure about their use here as the minifigures are very plain and oversized in comparison to the sculpture itself. For example, Oceanus does have hair and a beard and rides in his shell chariot but there's no flowing robes. 

But does this matter? Using LEGO minifigures in a LEGO set that is depicting human figures in a sculpture is actually logical; statues are often plain minifigures when included in sets within other themes.
 

Conclusion


The final model is larger than I imagined. I'll admit that I am not a huge fan of light nougat used for architectural builds, but it actually works well in this set. The rationale for using more colours to give depth, highlight shadows and erosion is reasonable and I think it has been utilised effectively here. I'm just not entirely sure we needed another version of Trevi Fountain, I'm surprised a different architectural landmark was not chosen.



This will not be one for folks who want a strict to-scale model; LEGO will always have its limits. The build has to be enjoyable, good to look at and highlight details, but usually, scale is secondary in LEGO Architecture. It is clear that this set is not pretending to be a scale model of Trevi Fountain; indeed the instructions point it out on the first page.

In terms of elements, this has a lot of white elements in quantity which could prove useful for architectural mocs in general.  There are a few nice recolours but nothing that is groundbreaking, which is a shame.  The one new mould also appears to come in red in an upcoming March LEGO® Disney set, 43268 Lilo and Stitch Beach House. 

There are some nice building techniques, a pile of elements in quantity and a reasonably attractive set, but is it worth £139.99/$159.99/€159.99?  I think there are other LEGO Architecture sets that are more enjoyable to build, for example for £60/$60 more you can have 21061 Notre Dame with more than twice as many elements and a full 360° build to display.



 

READ MORE: Review: 80116 Trotting Lantern from LEGO® Spring Festival

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3 comments:

  1. Andrew Barnick7 Feb 2025, 17:03:00

    That half dome piece is nice. It's also been seen in red in the Lilo and Stitch Beach House set. Previously if you wanted a three module diameter dome like this you'd often have to resort to either the 3x3x2 quarter dome brick (which is not perfectly spherical), or a piece like the 6x6 dome windscreen (which doesn't allow for a partial dome, and can be tricky to mount to studs neatly due to its click hinge connection). If this new piece ever shows up in a transparent color it too might be a fun windscreen element.

    The unprinted hobby horse head is another great piece, great for statuary detail. It'd be perfect for a microscale chess set, at least if it ever comes in black as well...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7 Feb 2025, 17:39:00

      Yeah I was thinking of the new half dome in transparent used as a windscreen for Luke's landspeeder.

      Delete
  2. Skye Barnick7 Feb 2025, 23:19:00

    Dang, it had completely escaped my notice that this set had a new recolor of the 3x3 macaroni brick! As of yet only a few sets have included it in ANY colors, so hopefully we're going to start seeing more of it (and in a wider range of colors) going forward.

    Also it's fun that NE posted reviews of two sets that make heavy use of Light Nougat back to back. I'm very glad that we're past the days when that color was relegated to skin tones. I wonder how long we'll have to wait for some of the newer skin tones on LEGO's palette like Medium Tan to likewise be "unlocked" for structural and architectural uses.

    I agree that the minifigs are a VERY loose approximation of the statues from the real-life Trevi fountain, but at the same time, they still showcase how big an improvement this set's scale allows compared to the Architecture theme's prior depiction of this subject. After all, at least now they have slight differences in their hair and poses, giving you a little more to identify them by than just their position in the scene!

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