Description
The Pretoria Fountain is the great fountain of Piazza Pretoria, in the center of Palermo, in front of the Palazzo Pretorio: a pyramid of basins, stairs and balustrades populated by statues of gods, tritons, nymphs and monsters. Palermitans call it the fountain of shame, for the nude statues and above all for what it cost.
The structure is circular. A central basin is surrounded by four flights of stairs and a balustrade, and three basins one above the other rise to the top, where the Genius of Palermo pours out the water. In all there are 37 statues, 24 animal and monster heads on the walls and dozens of jets.
At the four corners the basins show the rivers of the city: each is a great figure stretched out on a rock, with a triton and a nereid beside it. Around runs a ring of gods, herms and awkward, caricature-like figures, added in Palermo by Michelangelo Naccherino.
The fountain was born in Florence in 1554, the work of Francesco Camilliani, for the garden of don Luigi di Toledo. Giorgio Vasari called it "a stupendous fountain that has no equal in Florence or perhaps in Italy." Deep in debt, don Luigi sold it to the Senate of Palermo.
On 26 May 1574 it arrived in port, dismantled into 644 pieces. Some statues had been damaged, others perhaps had stayed with the owner. To make room for the fountain several houses were demolished. The one who reassembled it, changing it, was Camillo, the sculptor's son, who finished in 1581.
The nickname comes from the costs: the sums paid and the expenses that kept growing seemed scandalous to everyone. In the 18th century the fountain was seen as the image of the city's corrupt administration.
Not everyone treated it well. In 1737 a sturdy iron railing was added to stop the damage: it is said that the people of Messina broke the noses of many figures. The Palermitans answered by snapping two fingers off the Neptune of Messina, who has been making rude gestures at his fellow citizens ever since.
In 1998 a long restoration began, finished in 2003. In 1973 the Italian Post Office dedicated a 25-lire stamp to it.
The structure is circular. A central basin is surrounded by four flights of stairs and a balustrade, and three basins one above the other rise to the top, where the Genius of Palermo pours out the water. In all there are 37 statues, 24 animal and monster heads on the walls and dozens of jets.
At the four corners the basins show the rivers of the city: each is a great figure stretched out on a rock, with a triton and a nereid beside it. Around runs a ring of gods, herms and awkward, caricature-like figures, added in Palermo by Michelangelo Naccherino.
The fountain was born in Florence in 1554, the work of Francesco Camilliani, for the garden of don Luigi di Toledo. Giorgio Vasari called it "a stupendous fountain that has no equal in Florence or perhaps in Italy." Deep in debt, don Luigi sold it to the Senate of Palermo.
On 26 May 1574 it arrived in port, dismantled into 644 pieces. Some statues had been damaged, others perhaps had stayed with the owner. To make room for the fountain several houses were demolished. The one who reassembled it, changing it, was Camillo, the sculptor's son, who finished in 1581.
The nickname comes from the costs: the sums paid and the expenses that kept growing seemed scandalous to everyone. In the 18th century the fountain was seen as the image of the city's corrupt administration.
Not everyone treated it well. In 1737 a sturdy iron railing was added to stop the damage: it is said that the people of Messina broke the noses of many figures. The Palermitans answered by snapping two fingers off the Neptune of Messina, who has been making rude gestures at his fellow citizens ever since.
In 1998 a long restoration began, finished in 2003. In 1973 the Italian Post Office dedicated a 25-lire stamp to it.