Granfonte

Leonforte, Italy

The Granfonte is a monumental public fountain built in Renaissance-Baroque style, located in Leonforte. The elongated fountain extends for 24 meters, consists of 24 bronze spouts where he still gushing fresh spring water.

This structure completed in 1651 by Prince Nicolò Placido Branciforti, founder of the town of Leonforte. It was sited at the usual meeting-place for the town, and with its twenty-four spouts, provided ample and easy access. The work refers to various embodiments of the Flemish artists, at the time very widespread in Sicily, and is attributable to style and morphology to the Mariano Smiriglio architect’s artistic school from Palermo.

It is said that the Prince wanted to build it on the ruins of an old Moorish fountain, with a design similar to that of an existing fountain at that time in Amsterdam.

This monumental fountain was built with bearing walls of sandstone blocks from square cut and worked with sculptures in the round, low and high relief, engravings and decorations; twenty-four bronze spouts sorted pour water in the rectangular tank.

In the facade are visible twenty-two niches bottomless rectangular with round arches; central tower and two side with frames, ornaments and inscriptions, connected by spirals stone; two lions rampant on the side towers.

References:

Comments

Your name



Details

Founded: 1651
Category: Miscellaneous historic sites in Italy

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Nickii Mallia (5 months ago)
Stopped here for a break during our road trip around Sicily and it’s a beautiful area to rest and enjoy the views for a few minutes.
Mark Vassallo (14 months ago)
Interesting water works
B Eagle (2 years ago)
Amazing place for views and refill of pure water
Simon Grech (2 years ago)
Worth a visit when in the area, interesting to see & admire also the surrounding village & countryside behind
Roberto Saccà (3 years ago)
Monumental Fountain of incredible beauty. A must visit !!!!
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick.