Fountain of the Spinacorona

The Fountain of the Spinacorona outside the church of Santa Caterina della Spina Corona (Saint Catherine of the Crown of Thorns) in Naples is locally nicknamed Fontana delle Zizze, or the Fountain of the Tits. Though vulgar, it is not an inaccurate depiction.

With a statuette of Greek siren Parthenope (with wings and the lower body of a bird), an icon of Naples, the fountain pushes out of its water from her nipples, splashing onto a sculpture of Mount Vesuvius. The inscription reads Dum Vesevi Syrena Incendia Mulcet ("while the mermaid softens the fire of Vesuvius").

The earliest mention of a fountain on the site dates back to 1498, when it was reconstructed there, suggesting that the fountain has been here well before the 15th century. Commissioned by viceroy Don Pedro Álvarez de Toledo and designed by local sculptor Giovanni da Nola, it was rebuilt again in the mid-16th century in its current form. Since the 1920s, the original has been kept in the National Museum of San Martino; the current fountain is a copy made by Achille D'Orsi.