Here's an odd little collection of well-heads (vere da pozzo) with walls built through them, splitting them in half. Not sure why this happened since I think they are movable; maybe they were too heavy or it was too inconvenient to move them out of the way? And is the other half visible on the other side of the wall?
This first one, in Dorsoduro, is made of pink marble from Verona. I found this one when doing part of a walking tour from J.G. Links' "Venice for Pleasure." Mr. Links recommends a "curious little digression" off the beaten path to see a house not far from Campo Santa Margherita:
"Someone has built his garden wall through a well-head. The house belonging to the garden, which is numbered 3368, is...one of the oldest in the city, old even for Venice."
This one is in a courtyard in Castello~
Here's another one in a gated corte in Santa Croce~
And this is my favorite, inside a charming corte in Dorsoduro. This one just looks so droopy!
Comments (7)
I never realised these were half pozzi. I just thought they were built like that. If you Google italy venice mini campi drainage basins ( sorry still can't do links!), you will see why they can't be moved.
Posted by Andrew | August 22, 2011 1:51 PM
Posted on August 22, 2011 13:51
Hi Andrew, is this the link you found?
http://systemsthatseep.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/italy-venice-mini-campi-drainage-basins/
Posted by Annie | August 22, 2011 2:50 PM
Posted on August 22, 2011 14:50
Yes, That's it. I thought it described the drainage system very well ( there's a pun there somewhere, sorry)
Posted by Andrew | August 22, 2011 4:18 PM
Posted on August 22, 2011 16:18
Ha ha, I love puns. That site is a good find.
The well-heads are movable, I think, because there used to be thousands of them and now there are only hundreds. I read somewhere about how many of them were sold off to antique collectors after Venice connected to the aquaduct. But maybe it's not that easy to move them and involves filling in that cistern?
Posted by Annie | August 22, 2011 4:34 PM
Posted on August 22, 2011 16:34
Yay! Something else to look for next time. How lazy am I? I've seen some like that and just walked by, humming my Pooh-like hums. Tiddly-pom.
I'm off to look at that link now.
Posted by Yvonne | August 22, 2011 9:51 PM
Posted on August 22, 2011 21:51
How interesting! I would love to see the other side of a few walls to know if the owners kept both halves of the pozzo. They do make an interesting decorative feature.
Posted by sandrac | August 23, 2011 9:16 AM
Posted on August 23, 2011 09:16
Hi Annie, this is so interesting. I saw several of the whole ones, but I don't remember seeing any that were split in half. I would love to see how the other half looks like inside the walls. I wonder if they have a beautiful plant or flower vase like the second one in your collection. Very cool photos!
Thanks so much for sharing. Have a wonderful week.
Posted by Kathy (Trekcapri) | August 23, 2011 9:51 PM
Posted on August 23, 2011 21:51