La Fontana Pretoria di Palermo e Felice Orsini

The article proposes a particular iconographic-iconological reading of the great Fontana Pretoria in Palermo. The Sicilian work was created in the second half of the 16th century and makes use of the many sculptures from a Florentine Garden. Once in Palermo, from 1570 onwards the sculptures were placed in the square adjacent to the seat of the local Senate and arranged within a concentric geometric structure with an elliptical plan. In addition to the mythological subjects represented full-length, there are 24 animal heads facing four basins. Studying the presence and in particular the arrangement of these protomes, it was thought that in addition to the desire for self-celebration of the buyer, the viceroy Marcantonio II Colonna, an important role in the preparation was played by his wife, Felice Orsini. Indeed, Colonna's wife was very involved in pre-scientific themes, with references and overlaps between medicine and wizardry, and it is very probable that some of these interests were deliberately “hidden” among the marbles of the Fountain.