The Zodiac Fountain
It was inaugurated in April 1936, four years after the Municipality of Terni announced a national competition aimed at "engineers, architects and artists of the Kingdom" for the design of a monumental fountain for Tacito Square, symbolizing industrial Terni and the hydraulic energy that was its “driving force”. The choice of Tacito Square was not accidental, as it had been the focal point of the new urban layout designed to respond to the city's new social and economic reality since the end of the 19th century—a junction between important thoroughfares: Corso Tacito, Viale della Stazione (the station was opened in 1864) and the road leading to the industrial area (Viale Benedetto Brin).
The fountain was designed in a modernist and rationalist style by architects Mario Ridolfi and Mario Fagiolo, winners of the competition. They conceived a structure combining various materials: a granite base, a circular crown in porphyry, a large basin and an internal basin in Carrara marble, with a steel needle (mast) in the centre.
The monument is also characterized by the splendid mosaic decoration in the lower basin, reproducing the twelve signs of the zodiac - representations of the water regime throughout the months of the year. The artist Corrado Cagli designed these mosaics in 1934 and had them made in polychrome glass tiles by the Salviati company of Venice.
Damage caused by the bombings of the Second World War made major reconstruction and renovation, that also involved the mosaics, necessary. They were redesigned in 1961 by Cagli himself, who proposed the use of stone tiles, produced by the Mosaici Marini company in Rome, for the new version. Completely renovated, the Zodiac Fountain was handed back to the city in June 1961 during the Water Festival.
A long and complex restoration programme of the monument was completed in December 2021, involving multiple interventions, from the mosaics to the hydraulic components for restoring the water jets and lighting. The original mosaic, whose tiles were severely deteriorated, was removed and restored for museum display. In its place now, there is a copy of Cagli's work (which is protected), a faithful reproduction retaining all its characteristics—from the designs of the zodiac signs to the colours.
On 29 December 2021, the Zodiac Fountain was once again working and illuminated.
Near "The Zodiac Fountain"
HOTEL VALENTINO
#Hotel
Via Plinio il Giovane,5
CIR: 055032A101006246
Web: go to site
@: view email
WHITE
#Guesthouse
Via Federico Cesi,11/13
CIR: 055032C201031297
@: view email
HOTEL DE PARIS
#Hotel
V.le della Stazione,52
CIR: 055032A101006247
Web: go to site
@: view email
ASSO RESIDENCE STAZIONE
#Holiday homes and flats
Via Paolo Braccini,9
CIR: 055032B404032040
@: view email
MICHELANGELO PALACE
#Hotel
Via della stazione,63
CIR: 055032A101006249
Web: go to site
@: view email
TERNI CENTRO
#Guesthouse
Via Parrabbi,15
CIR: 055032C201032027
@: view email
BORGO NEL TEMPO
#Holiday homes and flats
Vico dellOspedale,11
CIR: 055032C202030669
@: view email
Alfio
#Trattoria
Via G. Galilei 4
Camelot
#Pizzeria
Via Curio Dentato, 26
Flowers
#Pizzeria
#Rosticceria
Via S.Tommaso 9
@: view email
Il cicalino
#Pizzeria
#Ristorante
P.zza S.Giovanni Decollato 12/b
Web: go to site
@: view email
La Fonderia
#Pizzeria
#Ristorante
Via Muratori, 3
Web: go to site
@: view email
La Lumiere
#Ristorante
V.le della Stazione 52
Web: go to site
La terrazza
#Ristorante
P.zza Dante Alighieri 5
Web: go to site
@: view email
Met
#Wine-bar-ristorante
Via G.Armellini 1
@: view email
Events
-
Le ragazze del Bauhaus e il caso Margarete Heymann
From 20 April to 26 January