The Fountain of Neptune, symbol of the town that bears the sea god's name, is in piazza Mazzini in Nettuno. It is not in its original position, and the monument is made of two different parts: the statue of Neptune and the horse-drawn shell with its basin. The travertine statue is the work of the sculptor Ottavio De Angelis and was given to the town in 1882 for the opening of the Albano–Nettuno railway.
What to see
At first the statue stood in piazza dei Pozzi di Grano; mayor Angelo Cambi then had it moved to piazza Giovanni Torretta, that is piazza del Mercato, where the fountain was also used as a horse trough. During the Second World War it was damaged by bombing, and during reconstruction mayor Mario De Franceschi decided to move it to piazza Mazzini, where it still stands.
For its new setting it was given a new look: Randolfo Belleudi of Nettuno made the horse-drawn shell on which Neptune still presides, completed between 1949 and 1950. In 1956, with the opening of the Carano municipal aqueduct, the water supply was improved, and probably in the sixties the three fish spraying water towards the shell and the god were added to the basin.
Visiting
The fountain stands in a public square and can be seen freely. After several conservation works, including one in 1997 by the association Nettuno Insieme, the first real restoration was carried out in 2015.
Our editors' tip
In piazza del Mercato part of the old fountain that the statue belonged to in the nineteenth century survives, now turned into a public drinking fountain.
