Fountain

This page contains information about a typical Venetian fountain.

For a list of fountains, see Fountains.

A fountain, fontana, is a public drinking water system in Venice. It serves potable water to the public and locates all over the city. The majority of fountains run continuously whereas only a few of them have a push button to operate. Among the 142 fountains in Venice, only half of them are functional. The Venetian Fountain serves not only a practical purpose, but also as a unique aspect of Venetian vernacular art. see Public art preservation

A Venetian fountain

History

A fountain, known locally as “fontana”, is the structure that dispenses public potable water in the City of Venice. An aqueduct system was completed from mainland in the late 1800's, which enabled a fountain system to emerge and to release a stream of safely potable water. These fountains usually locate in a “campo” or a street where they can be seen easily by the public. Some typical fountains were individually made with impressive design and some were mass-produced.

Types of Fountains

In the Venetian Lagoon, there are multiple types of fountain according to their design and shape. These types include Delfini, Puglia, Alto, Ott. Basso, San marco, Cylindro, Pozzo, Tubo, and Neri. Some of them have solid rectangular shape with some fancy designed lid at the top (i.e. Neri), while some of them are just a simple tube with a spout (i.e. Tubo).

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  Types of Fountain

Material

The majority of the fountains in the Venetian Lagoon are metal and only a few of them are stone. Because of this, many fountains suffer from natural damage such as algae and especially rust. The location of Venice exacerbates this problem even more. The vast majority of the metal fountains are cast iron. These metal fountains are painted to cover the metal surface to avoid rust, but the paints wear out from times to times leaving the majority of metal fountains in the Lagoon susceptible to rust. Some stone fountains are made out of Istria stone and marble and typically built in a later period. Istria stone is a type of limestone that has a gray-green or yellowish color. Lengthy exposure to the atmosphere causes the stone to obtain a whitish appearance through a process called “whitewashing.” Unfortunately, this also makes Istria stone a prime candidate for exfoliation. Verona marble is a sedimentary rock composed of organic limestone and fossils. It has either a reddish or whitish color depending on the carbon compounds it contains.

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  Stone Fountain with algae
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  Metal fountain with rust and algae

Serving Nature

In the past, these wellheads served as access points to fresh water for not only the human population of Venice, but the animals as well. Small, bowl-shaped indentations were made in the platforms of some wellheads. These indentations served as a source of fresh drinking water and as baths for the local wild life.

See also

• Wellheads
• Wellhead Maintenance
• Well
• Wells

Bibliography

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External Links

• English Wikipedia article on a typical wellhead