Pianoro
Subject: Springs and Fountains
Toponym: Ermagnano
Type: Fountain, well and basin
Municipality: Pianoro
Locality: Monte Ombraro
Description
Near Ermagnano, on Monte Ombraro, there is a roadside fountain with a drinking trough, next to a well, which was an indispensable source of water for the former inhabitants of these places.
The basin is filled with water flowing through a pipe out of the mouth of a lion, carved in bas-relief in the rock wall.
It is not easy to date, given the deteriorated condition of the bas-relief; it may have been built between the 18th and 19th centuries, but an earlier date cannot be ruled out.
The well is enclosed in a house-like structure with a double sloping roof, and is similarly in a state of disrepair, like other structures that have become useless or nearly so; a reminder of the culture and history of places that, sadly, are being progressively abandoned.