Fontana Pretoria

The story

The fountain was not made for Palermo. Francesco Camilliani carved it in Florence around 1554 for the garden of Don Pietro di Toledo; the Palermo Senate bought it in 1573 and had it reassembled in Piazza Pretoria, in front of the city hall, where it was completed in 1581.

It is a Mannerist work of concentric basins, ramps, balustrades and dozens of statues: gods, rivers, animals, sea monsters. The nudity scandalised the city, which renamed it the Fountain of Shame, a name still in use.

Around it stand Palazzo delle Aquile, the town hall, and the domes of Santa Caterina and the Martorana.

Why it is worth it

Climb the steps and walk the full circle: up close the figures have faces, animals and details that vanish from a distance. Look up and you see three churches and a palace all facing the same space. With the water running and the white marble in the sun, it is one of the brightest squares in the city.