Fontana Tancredi
The Tancredi Fountain bears the name of Tancred, Norman king of Sicily, and is linked to the wedding of his son Roger in 1192: a work that is at once public service and political gesture, in a city that was a hub of the Mediterranean.
A political gesture in water
When William II died without heirs, a succession crisis devastated the south. Tancred, Norman to the core, wrested the throne from the Empress Constance and Henry VI of Swabia. Brindisi, with its strategic harbour, was indispensable: here Tancred had the fountain built, an act of legitimacy written in stone.
Form and function
The low, elongated basin, designed to water horses and fill wineskins, has a severe dignity: form follows function, and proportion is never sacrificed. The white limestone, the same as all of Brindisi, catches the Adriatic light differently at every hour.
Where it is
Via Provinciale S. Vito, 114, 72100 Brindisi BR, Italia