Fountain of Proserpina, Public fountain at Station Square, Catania, Italy.
The Fountain of Proserpina is a fountain in Station Square in Catania, Sicily, made up of a group of stone figures set within a large water basin. A central male figure stands surrounded by horses, mermaids, and other carved characters, forming a mythological composition that fills the entire basin.
The sculptor Giulio Moschetti created this work in 1904, drawing inspiration from a Baroque fountain made in the early 1600s. He gave the old theme a new form, and the result has been part of the square's identity ever since.
The fountain takes its name from the Roman goddess Proserpina, who was carried off to the underworld according to ancient myth. The carved figures around the basin tell this story in a way that anyone passing through the square can follow without prior knowledge.
The fountain stands freely in the square and can be approached from all sides; it is lit up in the evening. That is when the figures are easiest to see in detail, with the light playing across the carved surfaces.
Moschetti chose a Baroque model at a time when newer art movements were already changing the look of public spaces across Italy. The fountain is one of the few works in Catania that brings together a 17th-century source and a 20th-century hand in a single object.
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