Luminous fountain, Monumental fountain in L'Aquila, Italy.
The Luminous Fountain stands at the end of Via Roma in L'Aquila, built to Italo Gamberini's design and completed in 1957. Three semicircular marble porticoes frame a white travertine structure about 33 metres high. Water rises from three basins to the first terrace, flows through a circular tank ringed by six groups of bronze sculptures, then descends in terraces to an artificial lake.
The fountain was built in 1934 to a design by Nicola D'Antino, the sculptor behind the bronze figures. It was conceived as a public monument for L'Aquila in the years when the city's centre was being reworked, and it stands at a street junction in the historic core. The bronze groups and the basin date from this single campaign.
The fountain marks the entrance to L'Aquila's historic centre on Piazza Battaglione Alpini, near the Porta Napoli gate. Its basin and bronze figures were made by Nicola D'Antino in 1934, and the work is tied to the city's identity as a mountain town where water was carried from fountains.
The fountain is located at a major street intersection and serves as a practical reference point for navigation through the city center. The site is easy to access and allows visitors to pause and observe the surrounding architecture.
The fountain's name comes from the coloured lighting that illuminates the water after dark, a feature noted since its inauguration. The bronze groups around the circular basin were modelled by Nicola D'Antino, who also made the city's war memorial. Look for the six sculptural groups set around the tank at the foot of the terraces.
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