The Quattro Canti and the Fontana Pretoria
The baroque crossroads of Palermo and the fountain of shame
At the crossing of the two main streets of old Palermo, Via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, the Quattro Canti (officially Piazza Vigliena) is an octagonal baroque square of the early seventeenth century. Its four concave façades, each three storeys high, carry fountains, the statues of the seasons, the Spanish kings and the four patron saints of the city's quarters.
A few steps away, Piazza Pretoria is filled by a huge Florentine fountain of the sixteenth century, with dozens of nude statues of gods, nymphs and monsters. Originally made for a villa in Florence and reassembled here, it scandalised the nuns of the nearby convent, and the Palermitans nicknamed it the "Fontana della Vergogna", the fountain of shame. The town hall, Palazzo delle Aquile, faces it.
Tip: next to the square, the churches of Santa Caterina, with a rooftop terrace and a pastry shop selling the nuns' sweets, and the Martorana are not to be missed.
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