Florence Fontana del Porcellino. Creative commons photo by sunshinecity via Flickr.
There are enough statues and other pieces of artwork in Florence that you might overlook the bronze pig at the Mercato Nuovo – but if you’re superstitious and want to return to Florence, you’d be smart to seek out the Fontana del Porcellino (the Piglet Fountain) to make an offering.
The so-called Fontana del Porcellino is a bronze sculpture of a wild boar, half sitting up as if it’s caught in the effort of standing, that’s part of a small fountain. The original bronze was made by Pietro Tacca in the early 17th century, which he copied from an ancient Roman marble statue. (You can see the marble boar in the Uffizi.) The bronze boar was first on display in the Boboli Gardens behind the Pitti Palace, and then moved to the Mercato Nuovo in the city center. The boar became such a popular attraction in Florence that a copy was made for the Mercato Nuovo and the original moved to the Bardini Museum.
Why move a popular attraction out of the city center? It wasn’t just that people liked to look at the Fontana del Porcellino – it was an interactive experience. The boar’s nose, you’ll notice, is just about the only part of the bronze surface that’s shiny. This is because it is believed that rubbing the boar’s nose will bring good luck, so nearly everyone who walks by the statue passes a hand over the boar’s snout. Another superstition involves putting a coin in the boar’s open mouth. If the coin falls into the fountain grate below, it’s supposed to be a sign that you’ll return to Florence.
The boar statue in the Mercato Nuovo–sometimes called the Mercato del Porcellino thanks to the bronze mascot–is a copy of the original bronze, which was a copy of a Roman marble. There are more bronze copies in other parts of the world, too–including France, England, Canada, Denmark and several places in the U.S.–but only the boar in the market will give you good luck for rubbing its snout. So in between shopping sprees at Florence’s best markets, stop by the Mercato Nuovo and help keep the Porcellino’s nose shiny.
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