Description
The Pozzo del Leoncino is the marble well in the middle of Piazza della Sala, Pistoia's market square: a round parapet, two columns, a lintel and, on top, a small stone lion that gives the whole thing its name.
The thing to look at above all is the lintel, divided into three bands of white and green marble, with the coats of arms of Florence and Pistoia. Above it sits the little lion in sandstone: it's the Florentine Marzocco, resting its left paw on the city's chequered coat of arms.
The well took this shape in 1451, when the square was rearranged to make drawing water easier: until then it had also been used to dump slaughterhouse scraps. The lion was added in 1529, as a reminder of Florence's rule over Pistoia.
In 1954 the well was being restored when the square was taken over by a concrete covered market. It only returned to its place in 1989, when that structure was demolished.
The thing to look at above all is the lintel, divided into three bands of white and green marble, with the coats of arms of Florence and Pistoia. Above it sits the little lion in sandstone: it's the Florentine Marzocco, resting its left paw on the city's chequered coat of arms.
The well took this shape in 1451, when the square was rearranged to make drawing water easier: until then it had also been used to dump slaughterhouse scraps. The lion was added in 1529, as a reminder of Florence's rule over Pistoia.
In 1954 the well was being restored when the square was taken over by a concrete covered market. It only returned to its place in 1989, when that structure was demolished.