The fountain of the “artichoke” of Piazza Trieste e Trento

A few steps from famous and visited sites such as Piazza del Plebiscito,Royal Palace, San Carlo theatre and  Umberto I gallery, in the center of today’s Piazza Trieste and Trento, the artichoke fountainis one of the most beautiful monumental fountains in Naples. It is a fairly recent work compared to most of the monumental fountains we can find in the city and has a somewhat peculiar origin.

The origins in a “spite”

The construction of the fountain was strongly desired by the mayor of that time Achille Lauro who managed to make it realize during the period of his city council between 1952 and 1957.

Initially, this was not the fountain in Piazza Triste and Trento, but the will of the mayor was to transfer there the fountain of Monteoliveto (located in the homonymous square).

To this wish, in 1955 the Superior Council of Fine Arts, strenuously opposed.

Achille Lauro did not surrender to the refusal of the Council and for “spite” he quickly built a fountain ex novo, or that of the Artichoke, personally charging all expenses and offering it as a “gift” to the city of Naples.

The design of the fountain was given over to the engineers Carlo Comite, Mario Massari and Fedele Federico. Construction work began in 1955 and the fountain was inaugurated on 29 April 1956.

The structure consists of a large circular tank placed in a small garden that acts as a roundabout. At the center of this tank there is a small raised bath that supports a sculpture in the shape of a floral corolla from which the water gushes. From the corolla of this flower, which looks more like an artichoke than a flower, comes the nickname of the fountain.

Other “artichokes” in the world

In Florence and Madrid there are two fountains of the same name, which is given this name for very different reasons.

As for the seventeenth-century Florentine fountain located in Pitti Palace, takes its name from the leaves drawn in the stone that recall the leaves that grow on the stalks of artichokes, while the Fuente de la Alcahofa Madrid, which is located inside the Parque del Retiro Madrid is the only one that can boast this name because at the top of the fountain some children are represented under a real big artichoke.

By attributing this name to the fountain in Piazza Trieste and Trento, the Neapolitans once again proved their immense imagination and irony. The phrase “see you at the Artichoke” has now entered the daily life of the inhabitants of the area, but also of the Naples fans who are used to celebrate the sporting achievements of their favorite team by bathing in its waters.