FONTANA ROMANA OR FOUNTAIN OF THE KISS

FOUNTAIN OF THE KISS

By local tradition, the Fontana Romana or the Fontana del Bacio (a romantic and out of the way place) for generations has been the place where the occasion of the festival of the patron saint, San Rocco brings young lovers to “Fare la Poggiata”( to go up the hill where the fountain is). It’s for no other reason than to distance oneself far from indiscrete eyes and give the fateful first kiss, from which the traditional meaning of the “Fontana del Bacio” (Fountain of the Kiss).
There are no true historical notes on the construction of the fountain. It was first mentioned in notarial documents from the XV century.  In 1459 the Notary Sir Muzzarello Gerardi in a bequeathal notarized in favor of the brotherhood of the Disciplinati mentions the “Fontana Romana”. Again in 1488 the notary Marianus Olim Petri Pauli mentions in the inventory of the confraternity of the Disciplinati a “petium terrae positum in Contrada Fontana Romana”.
The presence of a “Fontana Romana” and a “Contrada Fontana Romana,” provides evidence for the fountain’s definite presence in the late medieval era, though we do not know if the exact position and the form were as they are today. Reflecting on the position of the latter, it is found in the proximity of the crossroads from which extends the street of the Chiesuola. This street was used for communication between the convent of the monks of mount Saint Angelo to the Palanzana mountain and the town of Bagnaia. At the end of the sixteenth century a bridge was constructed, of which the ruins remain, that allowed the monks to cross the stream of the Palanzana and easily traverse the street of the Chiesuola to go to say the mass. The presence of the fountain can assure a certain landmark for a break for the monks and for every voyager that travels toward Soriano or Rome.
In November of 1566, in the height of urban construction of the area outside Bagnaia, developed under the supervision of architect Tommaso Ghinucci we found evidence in the city hall archive of two inspectors came from Rome that planned the renovation and paving of the strada romana (the road on which the fountain is located) to Soriano.
In fact the canonical Arcangelo Carones in his Memorie Istoriche di Bagnaia tells us that the Strada Romana has been returned to being a road open for vehicles since the times of the Card. Raffaele Sansoni Galeotti Riario (1498 – 1523), to allow travelers that came from Ronciglione and Caprarola to easily reach Bagnaia.
There are no doubts about the real Strada Romana being from the XVI century.
The Fontana Romana can already be connected to between the XV and XVI centuries, in the early period of the great architectural works began by Cardinal Ridolfi of the new urban development outside the walls of the village that forced the community to provide a water supply for the new piazza outside. And in this context they realized that the aqueduct designed in 1553 by Tomasso Ghinucci on behalf of the City Hall of Bagnaia. After having approved the project, Mastro Pietro Guglielmini, father of Domenico, was contracted for the construction of the botte (water storage barrel) of the water, meanwhile Cesare Prosperi from Vallerano  was contracted for the construction of the bed or chiavica  (sewer) of the aqueduct, from the barrel to the fountain had to be done in the village outside the walls. The works were terminated in 1567. The new botte placed in the Acquazita district, supplied the canal of the aqueduct that brought water to the vicinity of today’s church of San Rocco, at the time church of San Sebastiano. (Frittelli, p. 163).
Not having direct sources on the first job that brought to the realization of the source the archeological evidence showing us how the anthropic interference has always taken advantage of the space where the fountain is now, and where probably it was created in the medieval period one excavation for the realization of the street on the inside of the peperino bank.
The same excavation area was used to extract the peperino blocks for the construction of Villa Lante, the fountains, the monuments and the houses of the village of Bagnaia. Right in the proximity of the fountain, at the beginning of the Strada Romana, at the summit of the intersection with Strada Chiesuola, the cuts left by the extraction of the large blocks are still visible.
In recent years there have been two water tanks constructed in the vicinity of the Fontana Romana. The first one, called Votamare alto, was constructed in 1931, like from the epigraph engraved on the side of the botte (water storage barrel) positioned to the left of the fountain.

Translation by Lauren Williamson, Texas A&M University, enrolled in the USAC Viterbo program at the Università degli Studi della Tuscia.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

S. ALBANESE; Tecnica e restauri dei dipinti dell’oratorio del Gonfalone. Tesi di Laurea dell’università degli studi della Tuscia, Viterbo A:A.  2002/2003.
A. BATTELLOCCHI; Il palazzo della loggia di Bagnaia. Tesi di Laurea dell’università degli studi della Tuscia, Viterbo A.A.  2002/2003.
F. BUSSI;  Istoria della città di Viterbo, Roma 1742.
A. CARONES; Memorie Istoriche della terra di Bagnaia. Raccolte dal sacerdote Arcangelo Carones. manoscritto pubblicato a cura dell’Associazione Amici di Bagnaia Arte e Storia. Viterbo 1983.
A. CAROSI; Le epigrafi medievali di Viterbo, Viterbo 1986.
L. DELLA ROCCA, Gli Affreschi della chiesa di S. Stefano a Bagnaia e la società delle disciplinatrici nel tardo medioevo. Viterbo, 2002.
O. EGIDI; Castel di Salce, in DE MINICIS (a cura di), Insediamenti rupestri medievali della Tuscia, Roma 2003, p. 102.
I. FALDI; Pittori Viterbesi di cinque secoli. Roma, 1970.
G. FERRO; Le mura medievali di Vitorchiano, in GUIDONI E., DE MINICIS, E., (a cura di),
Le mura medievali del Lazio. Studi sull’area viterbese, Roma 1993, pp. 61-75,
F. FOPPOLI; Le mura medievali di Barbarano Romano, in GUIDONI, E., DE MINICIS, E., (a cura di).
Le mura medievali del Lazio. Studi sull’area viterbese, Roma 1993, pp. 76-85.
F. FOPPOLI; VISINO S., Case con portico di Barbarano Romano, in GUIDONI E., DE MINICIS E. (a cura di) Case e torri medievali I, Roma 1996, pp. 179-185.
V. FRITTELLI; Bagnaia. “Cronache d’una terra del Patrimonio”, Viterbo 1977.
I. GIORGI, U. BALZANI (a cura di), Il regesto di Farfa di Gregorio di Catino, Roma 1879-1914.
A. LANCONELLI; Dal castrum alla civitas: il territorio viterbese tra VIII e XI secolo, in “Società e storia”, 56 (1992), pp. 245-266.
J. LE GOFF; L’immaginario medievale, Bari 1998.
M. MARTORELLA; Liber Statutorum Balnearie 1565. A cura di. Viterbo 2012.
S.PREGAGNOLI, G. ROMAGNOLI; La carta archeologica vettoriale di Ferento in Daidalos, Archeologia e Memoria storica.  Atti delle giornate di studio viterbo 25 – 26 marzo 2009, Pag 199.
C. PINZI; Gli ospizi medievali e l’Ospedal Grande di Viterbo, Viterbo 1983.
C.  PINZI;  Storia della città di Viterbo, Roma 1913.
C. PINZI; Il castello e la villa di Bagnaia, Viterbo 1908.
C. PINZI; Storia della città di Viterbo, Roma 1913,
G. SERONE. Le mura medievali di Bagnaia. Analisi diacronica di un manufatto architettonico, in Il Tesoro delle città Strenna dell’Associazione storia delle città. 2007. PP. .473 – 491.
G. SIGNORELLI; Viterbo nella storia della Chiesa, Viterbo 1907.
C. SCIVOLA, L’amministrazione del patrimonio della Confraternita del Gonfalone di Bagnaia; Tesi di Laurea dell’università degli studi della Tuscia, Viterbo A.A. 2003/2004.

C. SCIVOLA, La confraternita del Gonfalone di Bagnaia; Tesi di Laurea dell’università degli studi della Tuscia, Viterbo A:A.  2002/2003.

Fonti
ARCHIVIO STORICO COMUNALE di Viterbo. BUSTA. FASC. ….. 5. ACQUEDOTTI. Pagina 21 di 798 …… IL R° ISTITUTO. TECNICO. 70. 14 bis. 1910. III. ISTRUZIONE PUBBLICA. 9. SCUOLE …… VOTAMARE. 10 fascc. di ….. SCHEMA D’IMPIANTO E
I. CIAMPI, Cronache e statuti della città di Viterbo, Firenze 1872, pp. 417-418;
A. ROSSI, Spogli vaticani, in Giornale di erudizione artistica, VI (1877), pp. 204 s.;
C. PINZI, Memorie e documenti inediti sulla Basilica di S. Maria della Quercia a Viterbo, in Arch. stor. dell’arte, III (1890), pp. 300-305 con App. di documenti; Id., Gli Ospizi medioevali e l’Ospedale Grande di Viterbo, Viterbo 1893, p. 134 e documenti XXII, XXIII in App.
G. SIGNORELLI, Viterbo nella storia della Chiesa, Viterbo 1938, II, I, pp. 224 s., 237, 265, 273; 2, p. 395.