Historical landmark
Neptune's Fountain
Bronze sea god towering over a fountain, famed for an optical trick locals call the stone of shame.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Neptune's Fountain in Piazza del Nettuno, Bologna, follows the bronze giant Giambologna cast in the fifteen sixties for a cardinal eager to honor his uncle's rise to pope. It centers on the objections church officials raised over the god's nudity, and the strange, precise fix the sculptor built into the statue itself. Listen for the one dark paving stone in the square, and what Bolognese locals still call it.
This audio guide was created using AI.