“E munumént dla pègna” is known by the eldest local people as “e funtanòn”: from the mouth of its three mysterious masks, fresh water used to run from a water-bearing layer which, 30 years after its inauguration in 1874, dried up. Given its uselessness, the monument was taken down, removed and reconstructed in different parts of the town. Today, it has come back to its starting point: to the centre of the gardens of Piazza Monti, with a huge cone on the top, as an omen of wealth and happiness.
At the Fondo Piancastelli, which is kept in the A. Saffi library of Forlì, there is a document entitled “Material and moral situation of the Town of Alfonsine – report by Dr Achille Lanconelli (1878)”, from which we can understand the origin of what is nowadays called ‘e munumént dla pégna’, conceived as a monumental fountain: ‘e funtanò’, as it was precisely called during the first years of the 20th century. It reads, “in 1863, butcher’s shops and fish shops were built in the shape of a fruit and vegetable wholesale market” (i.e. indoor spaces for selling meat and fish) “which beautifully meet – with their large internal and external porticoes – the needs of the public, while also offer the pleasant and cheerful shape of an amphitheatre. In front of the first one of these buildings, there is a public well of excellent water; in order to prevent people from throwing rubbish or other objects, in 1874 the Town Hall ordered the installation of a three-jet pump and covering the shapes of the elegant monument with Istrian marble by a skilful artist from Ravenna”.
Useful information
Address: Piazza Monti – 48011 Alfonsine (RA)
Phone: 0544 866667 – 866645
Email: ufficiocultura@comune.alfonsine.ra.it
How to get
The monument is located in Piazza Monti, in the oldest part of the town
