Artichoke Fountain, Fountain in the Boboli Gardens, Florence, Italy

The Artichoke Fountain (Fontana del Carciofo) is a 17th-century fountain set on a terrace of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, facing the Ammannati courtyard. Its octagonal limestone basin has white marble corners and supports a candelabrum-shaped structure in the center, with grey granite bowls, inlaid marble, and figures of Tritons and Nereids.

The fountain was built between 1639 and 1641 by Giovan Francesco Susini, Francesco del Tadda, and Andrea di Michelangelo Ferrucci, on the orders of Grand Duke Ferdinando II of Tuscany. It replaced an earlier Juno fountain by Bartolomeo Ammannati, and several of its sculptures came from other garden features that were dismantled at the time.

The name Fontana del Carciofo comes from the resemblance between the leaves on artichoke stems and the shell valves decorated with amorini beside the staircase holding the octagonal basin. At each corner of the basin stands a marble putto in a lighthearted pose, and two more putti straddle fish above the side shells.

The fountain sits on the terrace of Palazzo Pitti, above the Grotto of Moses, and is reached through the Boboli Gardens entrance. Going in the morning or late afternoon makes it easier to look closely at the sculpted figures without too many people around.

The fountain stands directly above the Grotto of Moses, and its terrace closes the north-east side of the Ammannati courtyard at a lowered height. This lets the view run from the palace's piano nobile to the Boboli amphitheatre, with the fountain marking the midpoint between palace and garden.