Piazza Matteotti e Fontana dei Mori

Piazza Matteotti is Marino's civic entrance square, marked by the Fontana dei Mori: chained captives beneath the Colonna column. Built in 1632 to commemorate the victory at Lepanto, the fountain was damaged in 1944 and rebuilt in its present location in 1969. It is also associated with the origins of Marino's grape festival.

Why it matters

The citizens built the fountain in 1632 to commemorate Marcantonio II Colonna, who commanded the papal squadron at the 1571 Battle of Lepanto. Four chained captives crouch on a rock upheld by eight sirens, beneath a marble column with a Corinthian capital and the Colonna crest. The fountain was damaged by an Allied bomb in 1944 while on Piazza Lepanto; Marino sculptors rebuilt it and moved it to Piazza Matteotti in 1969. On 4 October 1925, it first flowed with wine instead of water, marking an early chapter in the Sagra dell'Uva.

What to notice

Pompeo Castiglia worked the basin's lava-stone decoration, with stonecutter Pietro Taccia. Above the figures of the captives, the rock and sirens support the column bearing the Colonna device. Piazza Matteotti stands at the point where the road from the plain meets Marino's historic centre. Two towers of the medieval Frangipane fortress survive beside the square, one partly enclosed by a later house. The former church of Santa Lucia, known as the Chiesone, now houses the civic museum; its Gothic arches stand beside the fountain.

Context and history

The fountain turned Marino's association with Marcantonio Colonna and Lepanto into a lasting civic monument. After the 1944 bombing, it was reconstructed by local sculptors and moved during the 1969 remodelling of the entrance square. The present arrangement is credited to Marino architect Sergio Venturi. The 1925 wine-flowing event at the fountain helped establish the Sagra dell'Uva, which continues as part of the town's grape-harvest tradition.