写真

Fonte Pescaia - Spoleto

In the internal courtyard of the Hotel San Luca; there is one of the most beautiful Spoleto fountains of ancient origin. In 1198 Innocent III affirmed the sovereignty of the papacy over Spoleto and accompanied by many cardinals and the court, he came to visit the new domains. For some time the Spoleto people, digging in various places, were looking for additional springs to meet their daily water needs. The numerous horses following the pope suddenly increased the need for water and while His Holiness was in the garden of a convent near the ancient Porta della Trinit� (the future Dominican convent), he finally gushed abundant water from the cliff below. The event was considered prodigious and greatly increased the devotion to the pope on the part of the Spoleto people, who therefore called the new spring Fonte papale or Fonte santa. Since then, free access was decreed for pilgrims who wanted to draw that water considered to be wholesome. Such was the veneration and respect for this spring that a fine of six Bolognini was established for anyone who squandered its water.
Achille Sansi found it mentioned in the reformation books of the municipality, exactly in a decree dated 9 August 1514 (fol. 67).
Ruined by use and by the passing of the centuries, in 1603 the municipality decided to start restoration work and to bring the fountain back to its "ancient shape"; in memory of the event the plaque was affixed where it still reads:
PROSP. BISC. V (ice) G (ubernator)
AQUAE FONS HOMINIBUS SALUBERRIMUS
ET BRUTIS GRATISSIMUS AC UTILISSIMUS
TEMPORIS INIURIA DEFORMATUS
IN MELIOREM FORMAM PUBLICAE COMMODITATI EX S (enatus) C (onsultu) RESTITUTUS
YEAR MDCIII
(Prospero Biscuri Deputy Governor. The source of healthy water for men very welcome and necessary for animals ruined by the ravages of time returned to public comfort in better form by the deputy governor according to the decision of the Senate in the year 1603)
In 1760 the waters were used by a tannery built to support leather processing, in order to avoid trips to tan in Fabriano, Caldarola and Pergola.
In 1824 the collapse of the wall above made the source temporarily unusable; its restoration took place between 1831 and 1840. In the mid-twentieth century the tannery moved out of the historic center and the large structure fell into total abandonment. In 1992 it was purchased by a private individual and, based on a project by architect Alberto Zanmatti, transformed into a hotel, inaugurated in 1995.