Le Fontane di Viterbo

After one of my previous posts, my stepmother suggested that I consider blogging about the fountains of Viterbo. I am always happy to entertain suggestions, so here I go. Viterbo is a fortified, walled city. The current walls were first erected in the 11^th and 12th centuries as a means of protection. Walking the perimeter of Viterbo just outside the walls is a stroll of almost 5 km. Fortified walls are no help if they form a cage. For this reason, sources of water were essential to cities and the governing powers created fountains as public works projects. The number, size and design of the fountains were an indication of the power and wealth of the community. Viterbo still has more than a dozen fountains within the walls. Many were built during the 13th century.

I took a walk around the city and took pictures of some of them for you. We begin at the interestingly named Piazza della Morte, the plaza of death. There is a little wine bar we go to occasionally and during the warmer months you can sit at tables in the piazza next to the fountain. Many of the fountains, including this one, feature lions and palm trees. One of these, I think it was the lion, was the original symbol for Viterbo. After they defeated and destroyed their archrival Ferentum, they took their symbol, the palm tree, and incorporated it into their own.

Nearby you find the Piazza Gesu and its fountain. This one is quite a bit more ornate than is typical.

A short walk takes you to the Piazza della Erbe, home to Gelart, one of one of our favorite gelato stores, and this fountain with four magnificent lions.

Next I wandered a bit closer to home. On Via Manzini I came to the Fontana di Crocetta or fountain of the little cross. Note the figurine of a nun on top. This fountain, like the one in Piazza della Morte has a general palm tree shape and four spouts.

Closer to home is the fountain in the Piazza Dante. Both of these last two are rarely visited by sightseers.

Finally, I saved the best for last with the Fontana Grande. It is the largest, most elaborate fountain in Viterbo. We walk past it daily on our way to work.

  

In addition to the true, large fountains, there are also any number of drinking fountains. These are common in every town in Italy. Sometimes they are bubblers, other times they are taps. By law, if the water is not for drinking it must be labeled as such. Beware of nonpotabile. Don’t drink it! If there is no label, you can generally assume it is safe, especially in a place such as Rome. If in doubt, ask someone who appears local like a nearby shop keeper. In San Pellegrino I came across this one, covered with citrus from the flower festival. 



Near the Piazza Dante is this drinking fountain which is no longer running.

Outside, to the right of Porta Romana is another one. Notice the sign above the fountain.

Finally, in addition to drinking water, it was common to provide laundry facilities within the cities. There was a nice laundry area in Tuscania. The one in the picture below is a few meters down the road from our apartment on Via Vetulonia. These public laundry facilities are largely unused as most (all?) Italians now have access to their own machines.