Piazza della Minerva - Piazzas of Italy by Ultimate Italy

Piazza Pretoria

This ancient square in Palermo is renowned for the beautiful Pretoria Fountain, which dominates the square. The Palazzo Pretoria (City Hall), a magnificent ochre building and the church of Santa Caterina also form part of this piazza.

The splendid Pretoria fountain was originally commissioned for the Tuscan Villa of Don Pedro de Toledo. It was designed and built by the Florentine sculptor Francesco Camilliani between 1552 and 1955. Michelangelo Naccherino and several apprentices assisted him. In 1573 Don Pedro’s son and heir sold it to the city of Palermo as he found it a bit too risqué for his taste. It was dismantled into six hundred and forty four pieces and transported to Palermo. After it was brought to Palermo some figures traditionally associated with Sicily were added.

Over the next few years Camilliani’s son Camillo set up the fountain in Pretoria Square. This fountain was erected during the peak of the Spanish Inquisition and evoked mixed reactions from the citizens of Palermo. It became an important cultural point of reference. The people either loved or hated this unique fountain. Since it had many nude figures -sixteen of them in the central fountain it earned the name “della vergogna” (shameful) and was referred to as the “Fountain of Shame” by some of the residents and this name persisted well into the twentieth century.

Sixteen statues are divided among four sets of stairs leading to the central fountain. The statues are artistic portrayals of nude satyrs, humans, mermaids and nymphs with an underlying sensuality. They are made from white Carrara marble and are mainly mythological figures. Water spouts out from some of the figures. The statues belong to the typical renaissance Florentine style.

The four lower pools represent the four streams of Palermo – the Papireto, the Maredolce, the Oreto and the Gabriele. The statue of the goddess Ceres a figure traditionally associated with Sicily was also added after the fountain was re-laid in Palermo. In 1858 Giovan Battista Basile designed the railing around the fountain.