Fontana dei Malavoglia, Marble fountain in Piazza Giovanni Verga, Catania, Italy.
The Fontana dei Malavoglia is a public fountain in Piazza Giovanni Verga in Catania, carved from travertine stone. It consists of a group of life-size figures arranged around a central base, with water jets rising from the lower basin.
The fountain was made by sculptor Emilio Greco and handed over to the city in 1975, after years of work on the stone figures. It was conceived as a tribute to Giovanni Verga, the 19th-century writer born near Catania, whose novel gave the fountain its name and its figures.
The name Fontana dei Malavoglia refers directly to Giovanni Verga's novel about a fishing family from Aci Trezza, a village just north of Catania. The carved figures show people hauling nets and mourning their dead, scenes that locals from the coastal neighborhoods still recognize as part of their own story.
The fountain stands outdoors in Piazza Giovanni Verga and can be visited at any time without charge. It sits in a central part of the city, within walking distance of several other points of interest in Catania.
Emilio Greco, who made this fountain, also created the bronze doors of the Orvieto Cathedral, one of the most celebrated sacred works in 20th-century Italian art. The Catania fountain shows a very different side of his work, focused on the daily life of ordinary people rather than religious themes.
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