3 Fountains to Explore in Tuscany

One of the beautiful and magnificent Fonte Gaia fountain, designed by Jacopo Della Quercia around 1419, adorns the higher part of Piazza del Campo. The fountain stands on the exact spot occupied by a previously existing fountain in 1346. The water that feeds the fountain travels from a spring in the nearby countryside through 25 kilometers of underground passages known as Bottini, built in the Middle Ages and named thus on account of their barrel vaulting.

This beautiful Fountain of Neptune was located Right in the center of Florence's Piazza della Signoria, just under the Palazzo Vecchio. The fountain was commissioned to built in honor of the marriage of the second Grand Duke of Tuscany Francesco I De’ Medici to the Grand Duchess Johanna of Austria. The Fountain of Neptune in Florence represents several stories from both Greek and Roman mythology. It was one of the main attractions in this area.

Porcellino meaning ‘the little pig’, is a bronze fountain decoration that eats the coins of visitors who come asking for good luck and usually rub the beast’s snout when they’re finished. it was mainly based on a tradition. The fountain figure was sculpted and cast by Baroque master Pietro Tacca. The boar stands over a pool containing representations of tortoises, snakes, frogs, snails, lizards and crabs. In front is a cast iron fountain receptacle.