Fontebranda
On Gingerguide's self-guided Siena audio tour, Fontebranda is a stop worth about ~20 min. Stand in front of it, press play for a short narrated story, and put any follow-up question to the built-in AI guide.
- Type monument
- Suggested visit ~20 min
- Siena Siena guide
About Fontebranda
The Fontebranda (c.1246) is Siena's largest and most historic public fountain, a magnificent Gothic structure of three brick arches reflected in a pool below, mentioned by Dante in the Inferno and the neighbourhood fountain of St Catherine of Siena.
The Fontebranda is the largest and most magnificent of Siena's many medieval public fountains, and one of the most important civil engineering works of the medieval city. The existing Gothic structure, three great pointed brick arches sheltering a pool of clear water, now used only decoratively, was built around 1246, though a fountain had existed on this site from at least the eleventh century. The water came from the same bottini system of underground aqueducts that served the Fonte Gaia in Piazza del Campo.
The fountain served both practical and ritual functions in medieval Siena. Practically, it was a source of water for the neighbourhood, for the dyeing workshops (Siena had a thriving textile industry), and for watering animals. Ritually, it was the fountain of the contrada of the Oca (Goose), whose members still maintain a symbolic relationship with it. And it is associated above all with St Catherine of Siena, who was born in the Fontebranda neighbourhood and whose family home, the Santuario di Santa Caterina, is preserved just uphill from the fountain. Dante mentioned the Fontebranda in the Inferno (Canto 30), making it one of the few actual places in Siena to be immortalised in the Divine Comedy.
Did you know? Dante Alighieri mentions the Fontebranda by name in Canto 30 of the Inferno, a damned soul (Master Adam, the counterfeiter) says he would give anything to be able to see the Fontebranda once more, using it as a symbol of the earthly pleasures he has lost. It is one of the very few real Italian landmarks to be named in the Divine Comedy.
How much time do you need at Fontebranda?
Around ~20 min works well for Fontebranda — time to look properly and listen to its story on the spot. Linger if you like; nothing on a self-guided walk is on a clock.
Should you stop at Fontebranda?
Yes — Fontebranda made the cut as one of 20 places the Gingerguide team researched and narrated across Siena. The story tells you why it is worth the stop, and the AI guide fills in anything you still wonder.
Nearby stops in Siena
Hear the story of Fontebranda
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