The fountains

Water, the element of life and the reason the city exists, is celebrated by numerous fountains not only within the thermae, but also along the streets and in the main squares. Fountains that become works of art worthy of a dedicated tour…

 

Visible to those arriving in Montecatini by highway or train, the Fountain Mazzoni takes its name from Angelo Mazzoni, the Bolognese architect in charge of the design of the new railway station. Built in the 1930s in the square in front of the station and in perfect alignment with the tower of the building, the long fountain is covered with blue mosaics and formed by three sloping basins in which water flows from one to the other in cool cascades.

 

The Monumental Fountain in Piazza del Popolo (formerly Piazza Umberto I) was built in 1926 by the municipality, where a quadrangular lodge used for agricultural markets and fairs had been located since 1834. The project was carried out by Professor Raffaello Brizzi, a Montecatinean architect and Academic of Fine Arts, under the supervision of engineer Luigi Righetti, then head of the municipal Technical Office, who also designed the Town Hall. The work, made of travertine and bronze, consists of a large circular basin in which the water from four cups flows, in turn fed by water jets coming from the horns held by putti riding dolphins at the base of a central obelisk. The bronze ornaments were made with the collaboration of the Pistoia sculptor Antonio Guidotti at the Capecchi Foundry in Pistoia. The travertine basin in Piazza VII Settembre, then called Piazza del Salsero and slightly off the route of our tour, was also designed by Professor Brizzi in 1926.

 

Walking along Viale Giuseppe Verdi, it's worth stopping for a moment to admire the Fontana dei Cigni (Swans Fountain), a work by sculptor Pirro Bianchi. It is located at the center of a triangular garden overlooking the pleasant Renaissance-style loggia of the Terme Excelsior.

 

While walking inside the Municipal Park, it is easy to see the Tamerici Establishment, in whose garden the Fountain of the Naiads by Mario Rutelli (1859-1941) was placed in the 1930s, a miniature version of the one the sculptor from Palermo created at the beginning of the 20th century for the Piazza dell'Esedra in Rome. The original Renaissance architecture was supposed to be decorated with four lions, which were replaced by the Naiads, marine divinities. The model was purchased directly from the Rutelli family, who had kept it.

 

Still part of the Tamerici complex, but located inside the building, there is the delightful Romanelli fountain, so named after the sculptor Raffaello Romanelli, who is also the author of the basin with The Heron and the Frog, located in the park of the Regina establishment and symbol of the Montecatini Baths. In the fifteenth-century marble basin, a cherub is depicted sheltering his face while a mischievous frog shoots a jet of water.

 

Returning to Viale Verdi, we continue towards the Tettuccio complex. Inthe square in front of that beautiful building, you will find the "Duetto d'Acqua" (Water Duet) fountain, a work by the Japanese artist Susumu Shingu, well-known in the Far East and also highly appreciated in Europe where he collaborated with Renzo Piano. The fountain was commissioned by the municipal administration in 1997 and placed in 1998 in the large central flowerbed of Piazza Domenico Giusti. The work is an engaging mobile sculpture in steel just over three meters high that produces evocative musical effects. The water descends from the top of the structure, passes from one to the other of the elements that recall the shape of chalices, and gives life both to the movement of the sculpture and to the alternation of harmonic and evocative sounds.

 

Inside the Tettuccio establishment, there is the Fountain of the Crocodiles by the Florentine sculptor Sirio Tofanari (1886-1969). Created in 1926, the work is a celebration of symbols identifiable in the numerous animals that decorate it and which, all together, represent a tribute to the waters of the Tettuccio, miraculously believed to have healing properties. In fact, two crocodiles – animals considered sacred in Egyptian civilization and already personifying the protective deity of the sick – are depicted in bronze at the base of a granite shell from which the water of the spring gushes abundantly and flows into the circular basin below. Together with the crocodiles, other creatures animate the fountain around its pedestal: the toad, a symbol of fertility and rebirth, the seahorse, and the dolphin which embodies the saving power of water. For this reason, Tofanari's fountain has become a symbol of the complex.

 

Staying inside the Tettuccio complex, it’s worth to stop in front of the Heron and the Frog Fountain by Raffaello Romanelli (1925). Located in front of the Regina building, it bears witness to the history of Montecatini Terme. Through the allegory of the heron and the frog, it recalls the evolution of the Montecatini and Valdinievole territories, which were originally marshy and unhealthy but were transformed thanks to the reclamation work carried out by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Pietro Leopoldo I of Lorraine, and made fertile and prosperous through the loving care of its inhabitants, who knew how to use and enhance the beneficial characteristics of its thermal waters. A preparatory drawing for the heron and frog fountain, attributed to the Romanelli School, belongs to the Mo.C.A. collection.

 

Retracing your steps towards the main complex, beyond the area used as a shopping gallery, you can reach the monumental staircase that leads to the large gardens of the Tettuccio, at the base of which you will find the Cipollo Fountain, named after the ancient spring of the same name that supplies it, is located beyond the area dedicated to the Gallery of shops, at the foot of the monumental staircase leading to the large gardens of the Tettuccio.

The piece is by Guido Calori (Rome, 1885-1960). Known mainly for his sculptural activity, rewarded on numerous occasions, Guido Calori, winner of the National Artistic Scholarship at the age of only twenty-three, distinguished himself in the decorative and architectural field - famous is his collaboration with Galileo Chini at the Terme di Salsomaggiore - but also in painting and finally in literature, obtaining the Poletti prize twice at the Academy of San Luca. For forty years he dedicated himself to teaching, holding the chair of Sculpture at the Academies of Fine Arts in Florence, Bologna, Naples and Rome.

Also his are the two bronze statues placed on either side of the garland enclosing the clock in the main courtyard.

 

Resuming our walk inside the Municipal Park, our path ends near the former Torretta spa complex, where the most recent fountain of Montecatini is located, called "Water Sculpture". The piece was created by the Belgian artist Pol Bury, who had already exhibited at the Guggenheim in New York in the 1970s. The fountain was inaugurated in 2004 in the presence of the Maestro who then passed away the following year. A gift from the Cassa di Risparmio Foundation of Pistoia and Pescia, it is presented as a mechanical structure consisting of twenty-four steel cylinders moved by the force of the water that flows through them, producing suggestive musical effects.