Fontana Vecchia, Renaissance fountain at Via Ugo Bassi, Bologna, Italy.

Fontana Vecchia is a Renaissance fountain located on Via Ugo Bassi, built against the wall of Palazzo d'Accursio in the city center. Its marble surface displays family coats of arms, papal emblems, bas-relief sculptures, and textual inscriptions across its facade.

The fountain was commissioned in 1563 from the Sicilian architect and painter Tommaso Laureti and built in classical forms in 1565. It stands against Palazzo d'Accursio on the Via Ugo Bassi side. In 1615 the courtyard of the same palace held the garden of the Semplici, a collection of medicinal plants curated by Ulisse Aldrovandi.

The fountain stands beside Palazzo d'Accursio, where in 1615 Ulisse Aldrovandi tended the garden of simples, a collection of medicinal plants. At its centre was the Terribilia cistern, a water tank linked by underground conduits to both the Neptune Fountain and the Fontana Vecchia.

The fountain is set against the wall of Palazzo d'Accursio on the Via Ugo Bassi side, in the pedestrian stretch of the city centre, so it is reached on foot. Approach from Via Ugo Bassi and look for the basin at the base of the palace facade.

Hidden underground channels connect this fountain to the Neptune Fountain and a cistern beneath the Palazzo d'Accursio courtyard. These subterranean water routes reveal how it functioned as part of a broader system supplying water throughout the city.