Pretoria Fountain
The Pretoria Fountain was built in 1554 by the Tuscan sculptor Francesco Camilliani for the Florentine villa of Don Pietro di Toledo and only later was it purchased by the Senate of Palermo. It arrived in Palermo disassembled into 644 pieces and reassembled in a different way from the original design.
The fountain has an elliptical layout with concentric basins, arranged on three levels and four stairways; the stairs and the statues alternate according to a classic and symmetrical scheme. The four basins on the first level, with statuary groups of recumbent figures, represent the allegories of the four Palermo rivers: Oreto, Papireto, Gabriele and Maredolce; the faces of the Genius of Palermo, Santa Rosalia and the Praetorian Eagle are reproduced in the fence. A rich plastic repertoire of statues representing mythological divinities, monsters, animals, dolphins, harpies and sirens.
The evident nudity of the figures on display disturbed the soul of the citizens who renamed this site Piazza della Vergogne.
