FONTANA

FONTANA. - By a *f.* is meant an architectural-sculptural structure, of varying size, designed to receive water and distribute it for utilitarian or decorative purposes.

According to Doerpfeld, rudimentary architectural forms prefiguring the Greek *f.* already existed in Mycenaean times, consisting of a spring enclosed in a polygonal construction similar to that of a tholos. Different from these Greek *f.* of the aforementioned type (which find an example in the Burinna spring of Cos) are those depicted on Greek vases of the 7th–6th centuries B.C. (consisting of a lion’s protome pouring water into a basin), those shaped like a pillar, and those, later in date, in which the multiple spouts are surrounded on three sides by a kind of portico adorned with marble basins. In Hellenistic Asia Minor, the portico is replaced by a broad projecting structure with columns of various orders, often richly decorated, connected by delicate balustrades with friezes, and crowned by entablatures. Thus the *f.* becomes an architectural construction.

In particular, it is given the name of nymphaeum. Among all the nymphaea of the East, the most famous is that of Antioch, splendid for its precious marbles and paintings. It represents the type of public *f.* up to the Hellenistic period, when the first luxurious private *f.* began to appear in villas or gardens. The so-called distributing *f.*, attributed to the Etruscans (Marzabotto), consists of a basin divided into two tanks at different levels: while the higher, open one serves as a reservoir, the lower, covered one receives water from two conduits and expels it through two others. Of this type is the Italic public *f.*, which, in comparison with the almost subterranean Greek *f.*, presents the character of an open-air construction. In Rome this character is maintained in all monumental *f.*, among which is that of Septimius Severus, the Septizodium, with its monumental seven-tiered façade. At Pompeii the nymphaeum sometimes takes a particular form: a small temple fronted by a column, a statuette pouring water, through cascades, into the basin below.

In the early Middle Ages, after the destruction of the aqueducts, *f.* were replaced by wells. Only in the courtyards of great basilicas did the so-called *cantari* remain, to serve particular liturgical functions. Designed to bring spring water to the people, the Sienese *f.* of the 13th century were built in the lowest parts of the city where water, conveyed through reservoirs, gushed forth from numerous channels. Among isolated *f.*, composed of a structural part rising at the center of a basin, are to be noted: the “Great *F.*” (1266) of Viterbo, the “Major *F.*” of Perugia, a work of Nicola Pisano, and that of the cathedral of Monreale. Among the Gothic *f.*, the famous one of Nuremberg; among the Renaissance *f.*: that of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence and those in the garden of Villa d’Este at Tivoli; among the 17th-century *f.*: that of Piazza Navona in Rome, a work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini; among the 18th-century *f.*: the “Fontana di Trevi” (where a rare harmony is achieved between the architecture of the backdrop, the groups of figures, the rocks, and the multiple jets of water). In the second half of the 18th century, developing the theme of the “Fontana di Trevi,” *f.* tended to imitate, in effect, the cascades, often, as at Caserta, with statues and allegorical figures.

FONTANA - The *f.* in the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio, a work of Francesco del Tadda (1565); the spout is by Verrocchio (1476), formerly in the villa of Carreggi — Florence.

FONTANA. - Name of numerous artists, especially architects, born or originating from Ticino, between the 16th and 18th centuries; the most notable are the following:

DOMENICO, b. at Meldé in 1543, d. at Naples in 1604, linked his name to the transformation of Rome desired by Sixtus V through the laying out of straight streets radiating from S. Maria Maggiore toward the other basilicas, and the connection of these by other great roads; the vast conception, left unfinished by the Pope’s death, foreshadows modern urban planning principles. In the obelisks raised at the termini of the streets, he united aesthetic function with spiritual significance by surmounting the pagan symbols with the Cross. In these works he also displayed great technical skill, and his transport of the Vatican obelisk remained famous, for which he left a description.

In his vast activity, which also included the turning of the dome of St. Peter’Porta (v.), the figure of the architect is associated with that of the entrepreneur (Villa Montalto, the Presepio in S. Maria Maggiore, the Lateran Palace, the Vatican Library).