Fontana di Camerlata

The Camerlata Fountain is a geometric landmark on Como's southern edge. Designed by architect Cesare Cattaneo and painter Mario Radice, its circles and spheres connect the city's rationalist architecture with the experiments of abstract art.

Why it matters

The collaboration gave an ordinary road junction a deliberately modern civic image. The design emphasises the relationship between simple forms rather than a conventional commemorative figure. Its original conception for a traffic node is important to the balance and direction of the composition.

What to notice

Circular elements project from a vertical support, creating an asymmetric arrangement of open and solid forms. Spheres add further changes in scale and balance. Beneath the pale finish is a metal framework, an engineering structure that supports the apparently light sculptural composition. Changing light strengthens the contrast between the curved surfaces and their shadows.

Context and history

The fountain was designed for Camerlata in the mid-1930s and first realised in Milan's Parco Sempione for the 1936 Triennale. Its intended installation in Como was delayed. Reconstruction at Camerlata followed in the early 1960s, preserving a significant collaboration between two figures of Como's modern artistic culture.