Beyond Renaissance in Florence - La Fontana delle Boccacce

Le Cascine Park, the largest in Florence, was built in 1563 as a hunting reserve and agricultural farm of the Grand Duke Cosimo I de 'Medici. The name Le Cascine derives from the ancient Tuscan word "cascio", from cacio, meaning cheese. The cascio was the place where cows were milked and cheeses were processed. “Cascino” was the beech wood circle used to press the congealed milk, giving the cheese its round shape. Lastly, Cascinaio was the cheesemaker.

In 1785 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo Habsburg Lorraine commissioned the architect Giuseppe Manetti (1761 - 1817) to renovate the park and build some buildings, as the Lorraine family intended to use it to organize parties, shows and various celebrations. The Fontana delle Boccacce, so called for the masks from which the water came out, was built in the Prato del Quercione (the oak, "quercia", which gave the meadow its name, is no longer there, it has dried up). The fountain has the shape of a classical temple, with an octagonal base and bricks and masonry pilasters, a small dome top covered in scaled tiles ending in a short column with a Corinthian capital. These classic little temples of romantic inspiration, became fashionable. They were used as fountains, wells or gazebos, and populated the gardens of the Florentine aristocracy throughout the 1800s.

At the time the fountain was built, cows were still grazing freely in the meadow and thus found themselves using the most elegant drinking trough a cow could ever see. In fact, its original name was Abbeveratoio del Quercione (big oak drinking trough).
In 1809 Elisa Baciocchi, Napoleon Bonaparte's sister, who became Grand Duchess of Tuscany for a few years, opened the park to the public and the cows were evicted along with the cheesemakers. The whole area, which was finally bought by the Municipality of Florence in 1917, became a place for walks, picnics and sport and the Fontana delle Boccacce, a reference point for romantic dates. It brings a smile now to  imagine the place surrounded by thirsty cows, happily mooing.

Fun fact: For those interested in literature, we would like to point out that the last exciting scene of one of the most famous and beautiful Italian novels of post-World War II, takes place around this fountain and in the surrounding lawn: Le ragazze di San Frediano (The girls of San Frediano), by Vasco Pratolini, Editrice Vallecchi 1952. It's worth reading.