If we compare the reproductions of paintings to be found on the market, we can see that the fountain in Pieve has undergone various types of repairs and restyling work. The fountain as we can admire it today is the result of an assemblage that took place in an undefined period, using various materials.  In the same place, from 1880 to 1920, we know there once stood a fountain of a different type, with an octagonal lower basin, typical of nineteenth-century Cadore constructions, a broad base with three steps, a central column with a bulb shape at the bottom and a vase-like construction at the top. The present-day circular basin, clamped together with brackets, is divided into eight panels, held together by vertical rods, and is very similar to the monumental fountains with a spindle-shaped central column that can be seen in the Old Town of Belluno. This is probably the oldest fountain basin in the Cadore, and the only one of its kind in the area. The central column with the two spouts and the carved spindle-shaped column is topped with the white stone statue of San Giovanni Nepomuceno, which for a time was replaced by a central structure with four wide spouts and a second, smaller basin with carved mascarons, which can now be seen at the main entrance to the nearby Archdeacon’s Church of Santa Maria Nascente. The “Breve compendio della vita di Tiziano”, written in 1622, tells us that “…in the middle of the main square there is a source of fresh, clear water, the gentle murmur of which strikes the eye and consoles the ear….”. As suggested by Lionello Puppi, this could be a reference to the fountain which had been moved and given a new look, and was originally dedicated to the Nymphs and the Graces, the work – as can be read on the Greek inscription on the basin – of “Maistro Zorzi, stonecarver known as  Castellan da Cividalle de Bellum”, who, on 7 December 1547, in the presence of the painter Francesco Vecellio, signed, together with his workers, a declaration stating that he had “made and constructed the fountain looking onto the square in Pieve and had been fully and satisfactorily paid for the work”.
What we are unable to tell is exactly how the Renaissance fountain must have looked, and how the white stone statue of the saint came to be added to it. On the pedestal we can read that “the decision to give the fountain a new look was voted solemnly and unanimously, and in 1793, the most faithful guardian of the word was added to it”.

The fountain of Pieve is located in the Old Town, in the little square at the side of the road that goes down towards the neighbourhood of Sottocastello, next to the house in which the great Renaissance painter Titian was born.

ACCESSIBLE: yes, visits possible
MUNICIPALITY: Pieve di Cadore
PLACE: contrada Arsenale
GEOGRAPHICAL COORDINATES: X 1759355 – Y 5147216
PROVINCE: Belluno

FILE COMPILED BY: Lonzi

In the municipality of Pieve di Cadore, and in particular in the outlying villages, there are few other surviving stone washtubs and fountains. One of the finest of these is the fountain that sits at the fork in the road in Tai and the washtubs of Nebbiù, Sottocastello and in particular the single-basin one in Pozzale, in Borgata Longiarù (78 ES) and the large fountain-washtub with four basins in Borgata Moro. We have documentary evidence indicating that the water in Pozzale was frequently a bone of contention, as early as the 14th century, with the inhabitants of Calalzo in the area fed by the torrents.

L. Puppi, Breve compendio della vita di Tiziano, Cremona, 2009
M.S. - A. Guzzon, Cadore. Architettura e Arte, Padua, 2008
A. Genova - S. Miscellaneo, Pieve di Cadore, veduta prospettica dell’abitato e del castello (file 133) in L. Puppi, Tiziano. L’ultimo atto, Milan, 2007
I. Da Deppo, E. Favero, L’acqua e le sue forme. Lavatoi e fontane del Centro Cadore, Belluno, 2003
G. Palatini, Case cadorine. Restaurando la casa di Tiziano, Pieve di Cadore, 1932
A. Lorenzoni, Cadore con 172 illustrazioni, Bergamo, 1930
J. Gilbert, Cadore. Terra di Tiziano, Belluno, 1869