March 30, 2019
By HIS
Location: Milan, Italy
In the municipality of Milan there are over 400 small drinking fountains originally installed in public gathering places such as flower and vegetable markets, public parks, churches and cemeteries. The cast iron fountains were cast by Fonderia Lamperti at the end of the 19th century from a design by Sir Richard Wallace, a wealthy English art collector and philanthropist who lived in France.
Circa 1932. Source: https://serenavestrucci.com/VEDOVELLE-E-DRAGHI-VERDI
Known as the Small Model the fountain painted dark green is approximately 4ft tall with a single column decorated with acanthus bas-relief. The capital supports a decorative finial. A red cross on a white field, Milan’s coat of arms, is situated just beneath the water spout which is in the form of a dragon. A constant stream of water pours from the mouth of the brass dragon into a basin at ground level. For the amusem*nt of children, putting your finger in the dragon’s mouth forces the water to spout from a small hole in the head.
Creative Commons License, Giovanni dall’Orto. Source: https://wikitravel.org/en/File:DSC02799_-_Milano_-_Piazza_Scala_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto_-_20-Jan-2007.jpg
Used with permission. Source: https://travelinagarden.blogspot.com/2013/03/green-dragons-in-milan.html
Used with permission. Source: https://travelinagarden.blogspot.com/2013/03/green-dragons-in-milan.html
Used with permission. Source: https://travelinagarden.blogspot.com/2013/03/green-dragons-in-milan.html
The constant flow of water prevents the formation of bacteria. Run off water is channelled to the municipal water purifier and used in the cultivated fields surrounding the city. The fountains are maintained by Metropolitana Milanese to ensure the quality of the water. This company created a map identifying the location of all 418 small fountains with the hope that it would encourage their use and reduce the use of plastic water bottles. The map can also be viewed online at www.fontanelle.org
These drinking fountains are known as Vedovelle (Little Widows) in reference to the constant stream of water which resembles the tears of grieving widows. They are also referred to as Drago Verde (Green Dragons) due to the colour of the pedestal and the little dragon head water spouts.
As part of the Artline Milano public art project which created a permanent art exhibition within a public park, artist Serena Vestrucci combined modern art with tradition by creating unique brass spouts on ten historic fountains.
Glossary
- Acanthus, one of the most common plant forms (deeply cut leaves) to make foliage ornament and decoration. It is symbolic of a difficult problem that has been solved.
- Bas-relief, sculpted material that has been raised from the background to create a slight projection from the surface
- Finial, a sculptured ornament fixed to the top of a peak, arch, gable or similar structure
This entry was posted on Saturday, March 30th, 2019 at 1:27 am and tagged with Artline Milano, Drago Verde, Fonderia Lamperti, Italy, Metropolitana Milanese, Milan, Serena Vestrucci, Sir Richard Wallace, Small Model, Vedovelle and posted in Architecture, Cast Iron, Drinking Fountain, Wallace.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
