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giovedì, agosto 25, 2005 

La fontana del facchino (fountain of the porter)

On the wall face of the palace on Via del Corso, there is placed the Fontana of the Facchino (fountain of the porter): fed from the Vergine Water, originally fixed on a house in public square of the Crociferi and finally transfered on via Lata in 1874, on the flank of the afore-mentioned palace. It is a work of Jacopino of the Conte, constructed around to 1580 for assignment of the Corporation of the Water carriers. Who is the carved man? There are a lot of stories about it, but I can say that 3 of those are most probably. Number 1: the statue is Abbondio Rizio, porter, lover of the wine, as once written on an epigraph by the priest Godard. In this epigraph Godard said that he was crowned on the pubblic square and he died after a lot of years of work (the latin quote "in publicis stillicidiis coronato", means that he was crowned in the street: that's because it was a tradition, infact olders persons were usual to drag their heirs to show anyone that those were their wishes). Number 2: he is M. Antonio De Dominicis, a nosey Jesuit imprisoned from Pope Paul VI in Castel Sant'Angelo, who poisoned himself. Number 3 (a famous legend): he was a host who gained a lot of money mixing the wine with water. But when he died and appeared in front of Saint Peter to be judged, he had a surprise: infact the Saint told him that to join the Heaven, he must give back what he stolen: so, to do it, he had to pour all the water he poured in wine when he was alive. He is still sloshing. For more, post me. Dblk

He has also been identified as Martin Luther, though why I have no idea. (Why would he be connected to De Dominicis? Is there a citation for this?)

Fun blog, by the way.

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