Piazza Lionardo Vigo in Acireale
Piazza Lionardo Vigo is a city garden located in the heart of the historic center of the city, not far from Piazza Duomo. The square is known by the inhabitants of Acisa as the villetta.
The square stands in the place where, in 1664, the city prison was built which was then demolished in 1886 following a resolution of the Municipality . The land was then purchased by Baron Agostino Pennisi of Floristella, who decided to create a garden there to give greater scope to the façade of his palace. The garden, according to an agreement with the Municipality of the time, was donated to the Municipality.
In the house there are various works of street furniture: two valuable wooden kiosks, built in 1890, located on the sides of the main entrance; two cast iron statues of women holding two artistic lampposts, also located at the main entrance. At the base of one of these statues there is a plaque which states that the statues are a gift from the mayor, Giuseppe Grassi Russo in 1878; the bronze bust of the Acese poet and historian Lionardo Vigo, placed in the center of the main flowerbed, created by the Acese sculptor Michele La Spina and erected in 1883 by the Municipality and the Royal Academy of Zelanti; the fish tank with, in the centre, part of a fountain from which running water flowed for the first time in Acireale in 1852; the statue of Flora, goddess of spring.
