Premium Featured Accommodation

Messina in Sicilia - Fountain of Orione

The splendid monumental fountain representing Orione were built in 1553 by Fra' Giovanni Angelo da Montorsoli, on commission of the Senate of Messina and in close collaboration with the great umanist and local mathematican Francesco Maurolico. The fountain of Orione is basically a spectualr demonstration of the city's water system planned a few years previously by Francesco la Cameola; in fact it includes, in addition to the personifications of great rivers (the Nile, the Ebro, and the Tiber) also that of the small local river Camaro, whose waters, chanelled into the city water system, supply the fountain.

The art historian B. Berenson considered the Fountain of Orion "the most beautiful in 16th century Europe", and in effect Montorsoli's creation is a masterpiece of artistic flair and classical measure. The hero Orion, bearing the arms of Messina, dominates the top of the sculptural composition and is exalted as the mytical founder of the city and dispenser of healing waters. There is also a reference to the constellation bearing his name, whose descent in the sky marks the arrival of winter rains. The balaustrade of the large main tank represents scenes of ancient myth related to the theme of water, as well as images which qualify the historical and mytological context of the four rivers, here shown as river gods.

Articles