Piazza Pretoria in Palermo by Silva Wischeropp

This urban city motif was taken in the early evening of 14 April 2022 during my Easter trip to the Sicilian capital Palermo. Piazza Pretoria is a square in Palermo, the capital of Sicily. It is located in the centre of the old town just south of the Quattro Canti on Via Maqueda and extends eastwards from it. A wide flight of steps leads down from the square to Via Maqueda. The square takes its name from Palazzo Pretorio, Palermo's former palace of justice. Piazza Pretoria was laid out in the 16th century to house the Mannerist fountain Fontana Pretoria. Popularly, Piazza Pretoria was then called Piazza della Vergogna (Square of Shame) because of the naked statues of this fountain. This derivation is not undisputed. Another explanation goes back to the origin of the statues. Originally, they were built for the park of a castle in Florence. When the owners fell into financial ruin, they sold the statues to a buyer in Palermo. The ensemble was dismantled into over 600 pieces, shipped and rebuilt under the supervision of a son of the creator. The outrage at this, in the face of hunger and general need, was expressed by the Palermites by naming the square Piazza Vergogna.
Anyone visiting Palermo and strolling through the streets will inevitably pass Piazza Pretoria.
For us in this day and age, we marvel at the marble statues, and the size of the fountain in the still quite small square.