Subjects
Subjects
The fountain is located outside the ancient city walls.
The oldest information about the Rosello fountain dates back to 1295. The importance for the city's water supply is evidenced by the numerous maintenance and restoration interventions that the municipality has carried out over the centuries.
There is no description of the medieval configuration, except for the news that the water came out of twelve bronze channels in the shape of lion heads. The current appearance is the result of the renovation works carried out in the first decade of the 17th century, which gave the monument the forms of severe Mannerism. Although there are no elements to link the execution of the work to a specific name or workshop, it cannot be ruled out that Ligurian workers took part in its creation, as was often the case for many sculptural artifacts arrived or executed in Sardinia in the 17th century.
The fountain consists of two casson-shaped bodies, the upper one of which is recessed, with a white marble wall and geometric gray marble scores; on three sides below the frame of the lower box there is a dedicatory inscription that testifies to the works carried out between 1605 and 1606 under the sovereign Philip III, while the fourth side is decorated with foliage. On the corners of each box rise the quadrangular towers, symbol of the city; another circular tower, larger than the others and engraved with the coat of arms of Aragon, is located on the side of the lower body facing the town.
The water flows from eight masks at the base of the structure - three on each major side and one on the smaller sides - and from the statues at the corners that represent the seasons. These, added in 1828, replace the originals placed in 1603 and destroyed during the anti-feudal movements of 1795; of them, only the one depicting the Estate, very damaged and currently kept inside the Doge's Palace, survives. Even the two crossed arches, at the top of which, on a plinth, stood the statue of San Gavino, were lost and rebuilt in 1843, while the statue of San Gavino is a modern copy of the original. Below the cross, a fifth original statue depicts a reclining river god and testifies to the manneristic approach that characterized the entire sculptural apparatus.
The figure of the fountain so configured was represented for the first time by the Jesuit painter Giovanni Bilevelt in the Coronation of the Virgin, in the altar of the transept d. of the church of Jesus and Mary (now Saint Catherine), painted within the third decade of the seventeenth century.
History of studies
The fountain is the subject of a summary sheet in Maria Grazia Scano's volume on seventeenth-century painting and sculpture in Sardinia (1991).
Bibliography
A. Della Marmora, Itinerary of the Island of Sardinia, Cagliari, Alagna, 1868;
E. Costa, Sassari, I, Sassari, 1909;
A. Satta, The Rosello Source: Technical News and Historical Notes, Sassari, 1916;
C. Maltese, Art in Sardinia from V to XVIII, Rome, De Luca, 1962;
V. Mossa, Architectures Sassari, Gallizzi, 1965;
F. Caratelli, Rosello, Sassari 1977; M.G. Scano Naitza, Painting and Sculpture of the '600 from the 18th century, series "History of Art in
Sardinia”, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1991, sch. 34;
M. Porcu Gaias, Sassari. Architectural and urban history from its origins to the 17th century, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1996;
F. Caratelli, L'Acqua del Rosello, Sassari 2003.
Structure category: Monument or Monumental Complex
Content type:
Civil architecture
Usability: Open
Province: Sassari
Common: Sassari
Macro Territorial Area: Northern Sardinia
POSTAL CODE: 07100
Address: corso Trinità, s.n.c.
Telephone: +39 079 2008072 +39 079 2015122
E-mail: infosassari@comune.sassari.it
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Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday - Friday - Saturday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Information on tickets and access: Access to the monument is free. In order to take advantage of paid guided tours and other offers of the Sassari museum complex, managed by the Thàmus Cultural Network, you can refer to the price list accessible on the following website.
Access mode: Free
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