The Well-Heads of Venice

---

The Venetian diarist Marin Sanudo (1466-1536), summed up one of the paradoxes of Venice when he wrote: "Venexia è in aqua et non ha aqua" (Venice is in water and it doesn't have water).

Given the location of the city, the sinking of wells was out of the question. And so the Venetians had to solve the problem of providing fresh water for its large population (in the 14th century Venice was the fourth largest city in Europe) by collecting rainwater. The city's numerous campi and cortili were turned into extremely efficient water-storage facilities. The ground surrounding the well-head (vera da pozzo) sloped away so that the rainwater would flow though small stone drains (gatoli or pivelle) into large underground cisterns (up to 5 metres deep). There the water was sifted through sand to remove any impurities.
​
The well-heads in the campi were locked and the keys held by the local parish priests; it was the priest who decided when the well should be opened. This all changed in the 1880s with the advent of piped water from the mainland. The wells soon became surplus to requirement and thousands of well-heads disappeared. Many were sold off to foreigners, some were broken up, and some found other uses, often as rather elaborate plant pots. 

Taking many forms (round, square, hexagonal, octagonal, cylindrical), most well-heads, which date from the 9th to the 19th century, were carved out of Istrian stone, a few out of Verona marble and at least two were cast in bronze. Some are elaborately carved, others less so.  

According to a census of 1858, there were 6,046 private wells, 180 public wells and 556 disused wells in the city. Assuming each well had a well-head, that cones to a grand total of 6,782. I wonder how many there are today. Alberto Rizzi in his fascinating and fact-filled volume, The Well-Heads of Venice, comes up with a figure of 2,500.
​

Natural History Museum

Corte Gregolina

Hotel Stern