The St. Francis Fountain

A few steps away, in Piazza San Francesco, is the last of Graziosi’s works on this tour: the St. Francis Fountain (La Fontana di San Francesco) which depicts the saint in communion with the water and birds.
This sculpture, like several others, is one of a series of works by the artist that were commissioned by the City in the 1930s to decorate public fountains following the construction of an aqueduct.

The tour among Giuseppe Graziosi’s charming statues and sculptures need not end here. If you have time, visit the Giuseppe Graziosi Gipsoteca in the Palazzo dei Musei.

Opened in 1984 following a donation by Graziosi’s children of a large collection of his works, the Gipsoteca is open to visitors by request only during the regular hours of the City Museums.

The galleries of the Gipsoteca house seventy preliminary models of Graziosi’s works in terracotta and plaster (both originals and copies) along with some 200 pages of drawings, etchings, aquatints, and lithographs.