Quattro Fontane - Taormina, Sicily - Baroque Fountain Before the Cathedral

The 17th-century Quattro Fontane in Piazza Duomo, with Taormina's crenellated Cathedral of San Nicolò forming a dramatic historic backdrop.

This photograph shows the ornate Quattro Fontane in Piazza Duomo, Taormina, standing directly in front of the crenellated stone façade of the Cathedral of San Nicolò di Bari. Rising from a series of circular stone steps, the elaborate Baroque fountain features sculpted figures, multiple basins and a crowned female centaur at its summit, while the cathedral's fortress-like medieval architecture provides a striking backdrop. The fountain was constructed in 1635 and takes its popular name, meaning “Four Fountains”, from the four small corner columns originally topped by sea horses whose mouths supplied water to basins below. Its central structure consists of two main basins supported by sculptural figures. At the top stands Taormina's heraldic emblem, represented here unusually as a two-legged female centaur wearing a crown and holding a sceptre and globe as symbols of power. Together with the adjoining cathedral, the fountain forms one of the most distinctive architectural ensembles in Taormina's historic centre.