Fontana del Formiello, Naples

[1] The term Formiello comes from the forms or containers for water spouts found in the convent.

Mastro Joseppe and Michel De Guido were commissioned in 1573 to reconstruct a medieval fountain, originally called Fontana Reale con Abeveratoio, suggesting it was a watering station for horses.

Three lion masks disgorge water, while the superior structure has a heraldic shield of the viceroy.

A plaque in Latin states that: "While Philip II (of Spain) governed, here stopped travelers to venerate the waters of the Sebeto River,[2] that the choirs of the Aonidi, and the waves of Parnassus, here provide you the source of Melpomene,[3] who sings the aria of the works of the king."

It is rumored that in the 17th century the viceroy Don Pedro Antonio of Aragon added a statue of Philip IV of Spain, but the placement was rebuffed by the people of Naples.