This beautiful fountain in white Carrara marble, considered one of the most beautiful Italian fountains, and which today is one of the symbols of the city of Palermo, was commissioned in 1554 to the Florentine sculptor Francesco Camilliani to decorate the garden of Don Luigi Alvarez de Toledo, which was in Florence.

Giorgio Vasari called it "the most wonderful source that has no equal in Fiorenza or perhaps in Italy: and the main source is the richest and most sumptuous that can be seen anywhere, for all those ornaments that richer and greater can't be imagined, and for a large copy of water, which is always abundant".

When, pushed by debts, Don Luigi's son decided to sell it, the Palermo Senate buyed it.

In 1581 the fountain already belonged to the town of Palermo.

The enthusiasm was so much that, to assemble the fountain, some private houses were also demolished.

With time, due to the nudity of its figures, the Sicilians called it "Fountain of Shame".

This masterpiece of art revolves around a central basin with a cherub pouring water; from here four staircases depart to form bridges; other concentric tanks follow outwards.

Numerous statues representing various mythological figures and allegories of the rivers of Palermo are sprinkled on it: the Oreto, the Papireto, the Gabriele and the Maredolce.

In 1737 it was fenced with a wrought iron gate by Giovanni Battista Basile.

Top