Basically, it's a small, late 16th century building (dated between 1571 and 1572), commissioned by Bernardo Vecchietti, a rich patron of the arts, and eventually built by Giambologna, an artist/sculptor born in present-day Belgium but living in Italy, in the grounds of his own villa ("Villa Il Riposo"), on the slopes of the hill of Fattucchia, very close to Grassina, in the borough of Bagno a Ripoli.
These days, thanks to a careful restoration, this minor jewel of Tuscany has at last regained its former splendour. Basically, it is an artificial grotto, or nymphaeum, like the ones that can be found inside the Boboli Gardens, in Florence, or either in Medicean Garden Park of Pratolino.
Buildings like this one were usually made inside private properties, and therefore they were rarely known to the public.
Fonte della Fata Morgana was built like a theatrical backdrop with two continuous perspectives, and organised in an L-shaped layout with two adjoining fronts. Entrance and windows are made of pietra alberese (a limestone patterned in grays and browns, suggesting silhouettes), with rough-hewed ashlars tympanums, which give the façade its upward movement, and also contrast with plastered, engraved walls having a brick-like effect. On the left side, a typycal 16th century tabernacle, made of pietra serena, a special kind of polished stone which has been widewly used by italian sculptors and architects since Middle Ages...
On its right side, the fountain has three arcades containing some inscriptions and dedications:
- the first arcade has an inscription that could not be read, because of the marble which looks very dirty and spoiled;
- the second arcade has a latin inscription, which reads as follows: GLORIA TIBI SOLI, which means something like Glory to you, the One and Only, a typical kind of religious inscription. The same arcade has also an internal inscription, made on a stone tablet, which reads as follows:
Io son quella, o Lettor, fata Morgana,
Che giovin qui ringioveniva altrui:
Qui dal Vecchietto, poiché vecchia io fui,
Ringiovenita colla sua fontana,
MDLXXII
- the third inscription, BERNARDO VECCHIETTI MDLXXII, like a real built date plaque, has the owner's signature, along with the date when the fountain was ended.
The fountain has also a conch, made of pietra serena, held up on a rough stone base, whose zoomorphic form calls to mind a mermaid's tail. The water that spills over from the stone basin cascades into the hexagonal pool below, at the center of which is a brick base that once supported the marble statue of the Fata Morgana, after whom the fountain is named. The statue was also made by Giambologna. Morgana's statue has been lost without a trace, probably stolen.
The effect is completed by two symmetrical portals, placed at both sides of the fountain. The one on the left has a short flight of stairs which lead to the upper floor, made up of small rooms, one of which was formerly used as a kitchen. The overall appearance seems to be designed to strike awe into the visitor, the decorative and architectural elements of the fountain conveying a sense of magical fantasy. The effect is heightened by the charming surroundings in which the work is set, shrouding the nymphaeum in an almost unreal atmosphere. Recently bought by the town of Bagno a Ripoli, the Fata Morgana Fountain was restored by the Architecture and Landscape Heritage Commission and the Historical, Artistic and Demo-ethnoanthropological Heritage Commission for the provinces of Florence, Pistoia and Prato.
This magical, mystical place is definitely worth a visit, so go there without hesitation! This way, you'll be entering a bunch of a few lucky visitors: believe it or not, most florentine people don't even know about this hidden treasure.