Piazza Fontana

Piazza Fontana is one of Taranto's oldest civic spaces, shaped by successive layers of Byzantine, medieval, Renaissance and contemporary urban history.

Why it matters

The square preserves the memory of Taranto's medieval commercial centre and the infrastructure that brought water into the city. Its present form also reflects modern redevelopment and the recovery of archaeological remains.

What to notice

Nicola Carrino's 1992 redesign integrated surviving stone elements of the nineteenth-century fountain, itself a successor to the Renaissance fountain, with an abstract stainless-steel composition. Rather than simply replacing the earlier monument, the work combines old fabric with a contemporary interpretation of water and the aqueduct. Excavations have revealed parts of the walls and tower of the Cittadella associated with Raimondello Orsini del Balzo.

Context and history

The area was reclaimed in the tenth century and later served as a medieval market, first known as Piazza Maggiore and then Piazza Grande. A public fountain fed by the Triglio aqueduct was built in 1543 under Charles V, giving the square its present name. The Orsini Cittadella was dismantled between 1884 and 1893, and twentieth-century changes exposed archaeological remains.