Piazza Pretoria in Palermo, Sicily better known as Fontana delle Vergogna (the Fountain of Shame). What’s so shameful? Learn the full story at https://experiencesicily.com/2017/12/15/grace-and-shame/
Tag: fontana
Monreale Offers A Moment Of Peace
Whenever I visit the cloisters (chiostro) of Monreale Cathedral, I enjoy taking a moment at the fountain that anchors one of the corners of the garden. Its elegance and ancient beauty transport me to another era, somewhere far away. Somewhere peaceful. The cloisters were built by Sicilian and Venetian artisans in the early 13th century…
Travel to Sicily This May
Come with me to Sicily! We’ve got one spot left on our May 2018 Sicily tour, Myths & Mysteries of Sicily, for a couple or a single traveler! Together we will delight in a multi-sensory, off-the-beaten path experience that will stir your soul. Contact me today to travel to Sicily with a small group at…
Grace and Shame
This graceful and flirtatious woman is one statue in a series that adorns the (in)famous fountain that dominates Palermo’s Piazza Pretoria. Originally designed and constructed in 1554-55 by Florentine sculptor Francesco Camilliani for the garden of a Tuscan villa, it was purchased and augmented by the city of Palermo in 1573. Depicting nude gods, goddesses,…
Catania’s Persephone Fountain
This fountain, Fontana Ratto di Proserpina (The Rape of Persephone Fountain), exists in Catania at the Piazza Giovanni XXIII. It was sculpted in 1904 for Sicily’s second largest city by Giulio Moschetti (1847-1909). Moschetti is the same sculptor who created the Fountain of Diana in 1906 for Ortigia’s Piazza Archimede. With a nod to the…
Ortigia’s Diana Fountain
In the center of Siracusa’s Ortigia Island, in Piazza Archimede, is the Fountain of Diana. In 1906, Italian sculptor Giulio Moschetti (1847-1909) designed and constructed the modern, yet Baroque-feeling work that features the goddess of the hunt, wild animals, moon, and childbirth, i.e. the Roman Diana or Greek Artemis. Also present in the sculpture scene…
Palermo’s (In)famous Fountain
This (in)famous fountain that dominates Palermo’s Piazza Pretoria was originally designed and constructed in 1554-55 by Florentine sculptor Francesco Camilliani for the garden of a Tuscan villa. Purchased and augmented by the city of Palermo in 1573, government officials placed it in front of the Palazzo Pretorio, the city’s principal municipal building, with pride. However,…
Hercules Represents Noto’s Strength
The Fountain of Hercules located in Piazza San Domenico in Noto was created in 1757. It was intended to be reminiscent of Bernini’s masterpiece Fountain of the Four Rivers in Rome’s Piazza Novana, and probably, since he possesses a shield of the city, symbolizes the strength of the community that rebuilt after the devastating earthquake…
Palermo’s Quattro Canti: She Represents Summer
At the center of Palermo, the intersection of Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Maqueda is called Quattro Canti, or Four Corners. Quattro Canti is octagonal in shape, and it is flanked by four 18th century Baroque facades, each with a fountain and a series of statues. On the first level–the street level–are images representing the…
The Fountains of Ortigia
In the center of Siracusa’s Ortigia Island, in Piazza Archimede, is the Fountain of Diana. In 1906, Italian sculptor Giulio Moschetti (1847-1909) designed and constructed the modern, yet Baroque-feeling work featuring the goddess of the hunt, wild animals, moon, and childbirth, i.e. the Roman Diana or Greek Artemis. Also present in the sculpture scene is…