Puteal

[2] When equipped with a cast iron lid, as traditionally in the public squares, or campos, of Venice, Italy, the citizens and water supply were protected.

[1] Putealia were used as an accessible point of water distribution, and as an aesthetic architectural element.

[1] They were often found in atriums, where they gave access to the water cistern fed by the impluvium.

They are frequently decorated with bas-reliefs of classical Greek and Roman themes around their outer faces.

The term is also used for circular classical remains (spolia) recycled after antiquity into wellheads, such as the Guildford Puteal at the British Museum.