The shameless magnificent
Fontana Pretoria
Palermo
There was a time when the square in front of Palermo’s Praetor’s Palace was known as “Square of Shame”, due to the nak11ed statues around the spectacular fountain at its center.
The Pretoria Fountain, sculpted by Francesco Camilliani, arrived in Sicily’s capital in 1574, after having enhanced a beautiful garden in Florence for a few years: it was transported to the island divided into pieces – 644 of them to be exact – and was put back together in its current location. Palermo’s Senate had purchased it from the original owner, who needed to solve his financial problems and pay his debts.
The people of Palermo looked at those half-dressed statues and identified them with the corrupt officials in their city hall… but in reality they were meant to represent mythological figures such as the gods on Mount Olympus, and Florence’s rivers – including the Mugnone, immortalized by Boccaccio in his “Decameron”.
The shameless magnificent
Fontana Pretoria
Palermo
There was a time when the square in front of Palermo’s Praetor’s Palace was known as “Square of Shame”, due to the nak11ed statues around the spectacular fountain at its center.
The Pretoria Fountain, sculpted by Francesco Camilliani, arrived in Sicily’s capital in 1574, after having enhanced a beautiful garden in Florence for a few years: it was transported to the island divided into pieces – 644 of them to be exact – and was put back together in its current location. Palermo’s Senate had purchased it from the original owner, who needed to solve his financial problems and pay his debts.
The people of Palermo looked at those half-dressed statues and identified them with the corrupt officials in their city hall… but in reality they were meant to represent mythological figures such as the gods on Mount Olympus, and Florence’s rivers – including the Mugnone, immortalized by Boccaccio in his “Decameron”.