Fontana del Petrarca

The Fontana del Petrarca stands on Via Valleselle in Arquà Petrarca. The stone fountain predates Francesco Petrarca’s arrival in the village, but its Latin inscription links the spring with the poet’s memory. The structure is built of Nanto stone from the Euganean Hills.

Why it matters

The fountain preserves a local tradition connecting Petrarca with the water of Arquà. Its inscription says that a divine presence inhabits the spring and celebrates the water from which the poet drank and sang. The verses turn a working village fountain into a literary memorial.

What to notice

The structure combines an arched canopy, trough and worn water channels. Its Latin inscription, attributed by the village’s cultural portal to the writer Giacomo Quarenghi, reads: “Fonti numen inest, hospes: venerare liquorem, unde bibens cecinit digna Petrarcha deis.” The stonework has been altered over time, so the present arrangement is not necessarily the fountain’s original medieval form.

Context and history

The fountain was already present before Petrarca settled in Arquà in the fourteenth century. Local tradition says he drew water from it regularly and may have helped finance its restoration. The inscription preserves the association between the poet and the spring; the exact date of the fountain’s construction and its later alterations is not established.