One of the most well known places in Florence is the famous fountain Il Porcellino, which holds a huge sculpture of a sitting boar by the Mercato Nuovo. Made of solid bronze, it holds some secrets. So, how to find the Boar in Florence? Where is it located? What is its history? All of that below.
One of the most fascinating attractions to see in Florence. Porcellino, in Italian, means piglet – making this a Fountain of the Piglet. Its bronze prototype is located in the Uffizi museum in Florence, and it was made over 100 years before the actual sculpture, which is just a copy, made in 1998. The original is situated in the Museo Stefano Bardini in Palazzo Mozzi.
Where is the boar statue?
Be careful, as it’s fairly easy to miss – when coming from Piazza della Repubblica, heading towards Ponte Vecchio, it has its back turned towards that path. It’s located right behind the arcades, on the right side. Beware of the people, often Gypsies, catching the coins from the fountain – about the immigrants in Italy, we touched upon here.
History and trivia
- The origin history relates to the Calydonian Boar from the Greek mythology, which was sent to Earth by Artemis. The boar turned out to be quite problematic for the Calydonian King, as it was sent to ravage his lands.
- The legends say that if you rub the boar’s mouth, you’ll return to Florence one day.
- If you put a coin in the boar’s mouth and it falls into a fountain, it means good fortune.
- The boar appears in many movies – most notably Hannibal and Harry Potter
- There are a couple of copies of the Il Porcellino – in Enghien (Belgium), two copies in Munich, Sydney and Waterloo.
It’s quite an interesting, flavourful attraction, right in the centre of Florence – we highly recommend visiting it, when near Ponte Vecchio.
