Siena, finishes restoration of Fonte Gaia, the city's iconic fountain

A restoration project that lasted more than 1,000 hours, from October 2023 to February 2024, with twenty weeks of continuous work by the team led by expert restorer Stefano Landi, using state-of-the-art laser technology, advanced methods and the excellence of materials to recover from decay the Fonte Gaia, a symbol of Siena in the world. The construction site was a training opportunity at the Scuola Edile di Siena, with contributions from the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Foundation and the City Council, involving businesses and citizens. The restoration enriches the history of Fonte Gaia, which, the work of Sienese sculptor Tito Sarrocchi, replaced the original Fonte made by Jacopo della Quercia between 1409 and 1419 in Piazza del Campo in 1869. Over the years, the Fonte suffered rapid deterioration due to daily wear and tear in Piazza del Campo and the fragility of the materials used. For this reason, in 1858 it was decided to replace the original Fonte with a copy made of sturdy Carrara marble, created by Tito Sarrocchi.

After the construction of the Gaia Fountain by Tito Sarrocchi in 1900, restoration work was sporadic. In 1970, theOpificio delle Pietre Dure performed a consolidation, but no significant restoration work has been completed since then, limited only to routine maintenance by the municipality. The preliminary stages involved in-depth investigations of materials and deterioration conditions, cleaning tests, and 3D photographic and graphic documentation. The intervention, which began in October 2023, combined traditional and innovative methods, such as the use of laser technologies to remove the most resistant concretions. Modern materials such as nano-lime were also used to consolidate eroded surfaces, and black marble bonding and additions were performed. Finally, a protective treatment was applied to preserve the restoration results. The restored work is now returned to the city and its residents, with the hope that it will be maintained over time through a thorough maintenance plan.

ountain restored

Fonte Gaia

The restoration of Fonte Gaia in Piazza del Campo consolidates the relationship over time with the rich architectural historical and artistic heritage of the Building School of Siena, with the vast program of its training courses, of interventions on artistic and architectural heritage of the city: from the restoration of Fontenuova d’Ovile (1992 -1994) to the restoration of the San Filippo Bastion of the Medici Fortress (1995), passing through the redevelopment of the area surrounding the Fontebranda fountains (1993-1994), to the restoration on the sculpture of Christ the King at the Monumental Cemetery of the Misericordia (2020), and the recent intervention on the monument to the Fallen of the War of Independence by Tito Sarrocchi (2022).

“As the Municipal Administration,” emphasizes Siena Mayor Nicoletta Fabio, “We have wholeheartedly contributed to this intervention, which allows for the renovation of one of our city’s most iconic monuments. The Fonte Gaia, at the center of the Piazza and the life of the Sienese, has been in the previous months the subject of the valuable work of experts and technicians who, with their action, have given new light to the marbles and sculptures of Tito Sarrocchi. I thank those who, together with the municipality, contributed to the restoration, developing a virtuous synergy. I invite my fellow citizens to rediscover our Fonte in its full splendor. The town’s civilization, better than others, is recommended to preserve this monument, and Siena will know how to guard and preserve it as one of the most precious gems of its artistic heritage.”

“This intervention confirms the role of the Building School of Siena,” notes Vice President Simone Arcuri. “In the protection and development of the territory’s artistic architectural heritage; in the training of many workers in the sector that the Siena institution plays every day in our province.”

“Our commitment to the enhancement of Siena’s immense historical-artistic heritage continues,” explains the director of the Building School of Siena Stefano Cerretani, “With important works recovered in recent years. Once again, a fundraising campaign was activated, making co-protagonists of the restoration of Fonte Gaia institutions, associations, businesses and citizens who, with their contributions, have demonstrated civic sense, attachment to the territory, a model to follow.”

“The restoration, completed by the Siena Construction School,” says President Giannetto Marchettini, “which has returned Tito Sarrocchi’s Fonte Gaia in Piazza del Campo to its former glory, makes us proud. Once again the Building School of Siena has taken on the responsibility of preserving, guarding and returning the beauty that the history, architecture and art of our territory tell. The Scuola Edile has confirmed to carry out great interventions with the recovery project ’Il Campo, L’Acqua e la sua Fonte: Restauro della Fonte Gaia di Tito Sarrocchi’, validated on the second edition of the public notice Let’s Art!, of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Foundation, with the participation of the Municipality and the involvement of businesses and citizens, calling on the Sienese community. It also deserves credit for organizing the ’Schoolyard,’ an excellent synthesis of history, society, economics, research and best practices, involving established professionals alongside younger ones, safeguarding at-risk techniques, fostering generational turnover and activating an important induced activity. In its 30-year history, the Construction School has adapted to the needs of construction, expressions of society’s needs and development.”

“Yet another important recovery by the Building School, after that of the ’Monument to the Fallen for Independence’ by Tito Sarrocchi, of a significant work in the history of Sienese art and particularly beloved by the community, such as the Fonte Gaia, thanks also to the resources made available by the Mps Foundation,” says its president Carlo Rossi, “Through the Let’s Art!: is confirmed as a measure capable of leveraging the development of new skills to better preserve and enhance our artistic-cultural heritage with the involvement of the community. Objectives fully in line with the strategic planning, pursued by the Mps Foundation in the field of art and culture.”

“We are handing over to the city, to its citizens and to everyone, a work enhanced in its essential principles, asking posterity to scrupulously follow the maintenance plan, which is essential to preserve the magnificent Fonte Gaia in Piazza del Campo over time,” says restorer Stefano Landi, who oversaw the project to restore the architectural and sculptural complex of the Fonte Gaia. “The preliminary survey work, the study of the constituent materials and elements of degradation, the preliminary cleaning tests, the photographic and 3D graphic documentation campaign, were fundamental to the guidelines of the intervention methodology. Traditional chemical and mechanical methods were flanked by other innovative ones, such as the use of laser instrumentation from the El.En group: it made it possible to remove the most tenacious concretions while safeguarding the layers of oxalate, the ’patina of time,’ according to Cesare Brandi ’the sign of the life of a work of art.’ Nano-lime technologies were used to aggregate the washed and eroded surfaces; bonding of the fractures, detached portions and additions was performed; grouting and injections into the joints to compact and prevent stormwater access. A protective treatment and biocide were applied to preserve the results of the intervention and limit weathering aggression.”

Siena, finishes restoration of Fonte Gaia, the city's iconic fountain

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