Amenano’s fountain

In front of the Elephants’ Palace, the Town Hall, on the south side of Piazza Duomo you can see the Amenano’s fountain, its name derives from the Amenano river that flows underground.

It was built in 1837 in Carrara marble by Tito Angelini, the fountain represents figuratively the river as a young man who pours water from a cornucopia into a pod-shape calyx-tub, in the base of this tank two newts pour the water too into the canal where the Amenano river flows and it’s visible only in this stretch.

People of Catania call this fountain “acqua o linzolu” because the water’s fountain pouring like a little waterfall into the river produces a striking and characteristic effect “sheet” and also because in the past the laundresses washed her clothes and sheets in this bath.