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The elements of the fountain

Fountain of 99 Spouts in L'Aquila

L'Aquila (AQ), Abruzzo, Italy

The faces in this section have been numbered for our convenience starting from the left. The stone faces are 93 in total, the spouts are 99, the rectangular tiles separating the faces are 92, 86 red and 6 white; most of the red tiles have a 5-petal flower. Some of the faces stare straight at the onlooker, others have eyes directed to the ground. The writer of this article has observed the behaviour of a great many visitors to the fountain, and the majority start their itinerary from the left (because it looks at first sight as the shorter side? or for some unconscious reasons? because Western languages are read left to right?).
Location: The face is located along the left side, between 2 red tiles.

The enumeration - we have arbitrarily numbered the stone figures from 1 to 93 starting from the left side. Consequently, also the white tiles have been numbered from left to right.

The left side - The side immediately left of the entrance gate has one face standing alone in the corner wall (No 1 in our sequence) then 22 faces, from 2 to 23 included in our enumeration, along the left side, and 1 in the corner (No. 24 in our sequence). The lower basins were a later addition (15-16th century) so in origin an average-height visitor to the fountain would have walked face to face, at the same height as the spouts.

Fountain of 99 Spouts, left side

The central side - 38 faces along the central side, from 25 to 62 included in our enumeration, and 1 in the southern corner (No. 63 in our sequence) at the beginning of the right side of the fountain. The lower basin seems to be of the same period as the fountain, having exit holes for the water (walled later). The central lower basin has a balauster with square and columns (39 columns) exactly of the same number as the stone faces along this central side.

Fountain of 99 Spouts, central side

The right side - 29 faces along the right side, from 64 to 92 included in our enumeration, and one standing alone along the entrance wall, on the right of the entrance (No. 93 in our sequence).

Fountain of 99 Spouts, right side

 

Index of spouts
The 93 stone faces, from left to right:
 1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |  16  |  17  |  18  |  19  |  20  |  21  |  22  |  23  |  24  |  25  |  26  |  27  |  28  |  29  |  30  |  31  |  32  |  33  |  34  |  35  |  36  |  37  |  38  |  39  |  40  |  41  |  42  |  43  |  44  |  45  |  46  |  47  |  48  |  49  |  50  |  51  |  52  |  53  |  54  |  55  |  56  |  57  |  58  |  59  |  60  |  61  |  62  |  63  |  64  |  65  |  66  |  67  |  68  |  69  |  70  |  71  |  72  |  73  |  74  |  75  |  76  |  77  |  78  |  79  |  80  |  81  |  82  |  83  |  84  |  85  |  86  |  87  |  88  |  89  |  90  |  91  |  92  |  93  |  last 6 spouts  |

Suggested readings:

The mysteries of L'Aquila (in Italian), seminal studies on the foundation and historical background to the monuments of the town