Italy, Siena, Fonte Gaia

This fountain is located in the main square of Siena, Piazza del Campo. Around 1340, the Siena Signoria decided to build a public fountain in the main square of the city, Piazza del Campo. The work was entrusted to the Sienese sculptors and architects Agostino and Agnolo, who built a rectangular fountain bowl and brought water to it through lead and clay pipes. The fountain was inaugurated on June 1, 1343.
In 1409, the sculptor Jacopo della Quercia returned to his homeland in Siena, where he decorated three walls of the fountain with marble sculptures. The marble decoration of the fountain was completed in 1419 and caused such delight among the Sienese that the sculptor Jacopo della Quercia was then called Jacopo della Fonte.
In the 19th century, it was decided to move the original sculptures from the fountain, damaged by time, to the museum of the Palazzo Pubblico, and to place copies in the square instead. The copies were made in 1858 by the Sienese sculptor Tito Sarrocchi.