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Fountain of Bacchus

16/5/2019

 
Walking Tours of Florence
Fountain of Bacchus, Boboli Garden, Florence
Fountain of Bacchus

There are fountains aplenty in the Boboli Garden, but surely one of the most curious is the Fontana del Bacchino (Fountain of Bacchus).

The fountain, which takes the form of a naked man sitting astride a tortoise, is also known as the Fontanella di Nano Morgante, for the chubby chap is not Bacchus, the god of wine, but Morgante the most celebrated and popular dwarf (nano) at the court of Cosimo I de' Medici (b.1519/r. 1537-74), grand duke of Tuscany.

The dwarf's real name was Braccio di Bartolo, but he was nicknamed, somewhat ironically, after the eponymous giant in Morgante (1483), an epic poem by Luigi Pulci (1432-84).  

The fountain (1560) is the work of Valerio Cioli (1529-99).   ​

Fountain of Bacchus, Boboli Garden, Florence
Fountain of Bacchus

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    Blogging about Florence:
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    My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England.

    Since 200I I have been living in Italy, where I run
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  • Private Tours
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