Fountain of Venus Cyprea in Castelbuono
The Fountain of Venus Cyprea in Castelbuono is one of the symbols of the Madonie village.
The fountain is also known as I Quattru cannola with reference to the four spouts from which the water flows.
The The fountain was built in 1614 by the will of the Castelbuono jurors, at the time of Marquis Giovanni III Ventimiglia. It was part of a multiple system of fountains in the belvedere of the feudal family of Ventimiglia. It was built with recycled material from the remains of two previous fountains dating back to 1587. According to the plaque placed at the top of the monument, the statues that adorn it come from archaeological finds.
The construction follows a vertical elevation plan. Above, the statue of Andromeda which has remarkable similarities to the Greek original by the sculptor Doidalses, kept in the Uffizi in Florence. The statue is of very ancient workmanship, probably coming from Ypsigro. In the centre, in a classical niche, are the beautiful statues of Venus and Cupid drying themselves. Below, on either side of the font, there are four bas-relief metopes of Greek origin in which the historiated legend of Diana bathing and of the hunter Actaeon, transformed into a dog for the indiscretion used towards the nymph, is represented.
