Il Nettuno

The Fountain of Neptune on the Piazza del Nettuno is one of northern Italy's most celebrated Renaissance monuments, a monumental bronze by Giambologna commissioned in 1563 by papal legate Cardinal Carlo Borromeo and completed in 1566. The nearly four-meter figure of the sea god stands atop a tiered base of tritons and nereids, conceived as an explicit symbol of papal authority over Bologna when the city was still part of the Papal States. The fountain carries a well-known optical secret: viewed from a precise angle on the Piazza Maggiore, the sculpture reveals an erotic silhouette — reportedly Giambologna's workaround to avoid censorship from church authorities. Today it functions as the social heart of the old city, a gathering point for students and locals beneath the arcades of one of Italy's great medieval piazzas.