L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 10 L'Italo-Americano T u r i n h a s n e v e r n e e d e d m u c h encouragement to s h o w o f f i t s ( s o m e t i m e s quirky) beauty, but Piazza S o l f e r i n o g i v e s t h e c i t y unusually good material. At one end of the square stands the Fontana Angelica, a broad stone basin crowded with four large bronze figures, children, fruit, animals and z o d i a c s i g n s , a l l a r r a n g e d around water that moves from one group to the next. The fountain began working again this summer after two years out of service, a good timing f o r a m o n u m e n t t h a t h a s spent nearly a century acquir- ing a second life: it was built as a memorial to a man's par- ents, yet today it is one of the principal landmarks of the m o s t " m a g i c a l " c i t y i n Italy. To understand better why the Fontana Angelica has a peculiar reputation, we must learn more about the reasons why its city, Turin, is part of such a vast occult geogra- phy. According to the mod- ern esoteric tradition, the city belongs to two international t r i a n g l e s a t o n c e : T u r i n , Lyon and Prague form the triangle of white magic, while Turin, London, and San Francisco make up the black one. Within the city, Piazza Statuto is usually cast as the darker pole and P i a z z a C a s t e l l o a s t h e lighter one, while the Po and Dora are given corresponding solar and lunar meanings. Turin's reputation for magic and the occult has deep roots, but the map of its supposed magical sites is a much more recent invention. Freemasons, spiritualists, and occult enthu- siasts had been active in the city long before the twentieth century, but the familiar divi- sion between black and white magic, with its symbolic mon- uments and hidden messages, was largely developed and popularized during the 1960s and 1970s. The fountain itself had a rather more ordinary begin- n i n g : P a o l o B a j n o t t i , a T u r i n - b o r n d i p l o m a t w h o ended his career as Italy's plenipotentiary minister in the United States, died in 1919 and left 150,000 lire to the city to build a monumental fountain in memory of his parents, Tommaso Bajnotti and Angelica Cugiani. So the name Angelica comes from his mother, and has nothing to do with angels, spirits or t h e s u p e r n a t u r a l , d e s p i t e what later interpretations of the fountain might suggest. In fact, there is also an interest- ing American connection to Bajnotti's story. His wife, Car- oline Mathilde Brown, known as Carrie, was born in Provi- dence, Rhode Island, and was t h e g r a n d d a u g h t e r o f Nicholas Brown, the man after whom Brown University was named. She died in 1892, and Bajnotti spent years com- memorating her in Provi- d e n c e , w h e r e h e c o m m i s - s i o n e d a m o n u m e n t a l fountain in Burnside Park and, in 1904, donated the Carrie Tower to Brown Uni- versity, a ninety-five-foot clock tower built in her mem- ory. What Bajnotti had in mind f o r T u r i n , h o w e v e r , w a s r a t h e r d i f f e r e n t f r o m t h e fountain we see today. He wanted it built in Piazza San G i o v a n n i , i n f r o n t o f t h e cathedral, and specified a medieval Gothic style, but a municipal commission decid- ed that Piazza Solferino would be a more suitable location and allowed the designers to choose a different style. Find- i n g a n a c c e p t a b l e d e s i g n proved difficult, and three c o m p e t i t i o n s w e r e h e l d b e f o r e G i o v a n n i R i v a ' s proposal, titled Stagioni ( S e a s o n s ) , w a s f i n a l l y approved at the end of 1921. Construction was supposed to take eighteen months, but the work dragged on for nearly seven years, and by 1924 La Stampa was already joking that the people of Turin might not live long enough to see the finished fountain. Fortu- nately, they did, although they had to wait until October 28, 1929, for its inauguration. R i v a ' s d e s i g n i s e a s y enough to understand, with its two male figures repre- senting Fall and Winter, and the two female figures repre- senting Spring and Summer. The sculptures around them include children, fruits, ani- mals and twelve stone masks associated with the zodiac. MuseoTorino considers the fountain an important exam- ple of Art Deco decorative sculpture, and its imagery fol- l o w s a f a m i l i a r t h e m e i n European art: the passage of the seasons, with their chang- ing agricultural activities and cycles of fertility. As you can see, there is already quite a lot going on, e v e n w i t h o u t i n v o l v i n g F r e e m a s o n r y , b u t w h y should we give up on an extra layer of mystery? The Masonic interpreta- tion begins with the two male figures, which, according to the modern legend, represent Boaz and Jachin, the names traditionally given to the two pillars of Solomon's Temple, w h i c h l a t e r a c q u i r e d a n important place in Masonic symbolism. In this interpreta- tion, one figure represents d a r k n e s s a n d i g n o r a n c e , while the other stands for l i g h t a n d k n o w l e d g e ; t h e water pouring from their ves- s e l s b e c o m e s a s y m b o l o f knowledge, and the rectangu- lar space between the two fig- ures is understood as a pas- s a g e t h r o u g h w h i c h a n initiate must symbolically walk. The other figures and dec- orations have received similar interpretations over the years. S p r i n g a n d S u m m e r , f o r example, have been associat- e d w i t h v i r t u e a n d v i c e , sacred and profane knowl- edge, and even sacred and profane love. The pomegran- ates, pinecones, fish, rams, and central face have also been assigned various mean- ings, while some interpreta- tions have managed to bring Medusa, Isis and Osiris into the story. Whether Riva actu- ally intended any of this is another matter; we have reli- able documentation concern- ing Bajnotti's bequest, the decision to move the fountain to Piazza Solferino, the com- p e t i t i o n s , R i v a ' s w i n n i n g design and the four seasons represented by the sculptures. What we do not have is com- parable evidence that the artist conceived the fountain as an elaborate Masonic alle- g o r y i n v o l v i n g E g y p t i a n deities, initiation rituals and a passage to secret knowledge. This interpretation appears to have developed much later, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s, when Gianluigi Marianini and other enthu- siasts of the occult began i d e n t i f y i n g c o n n e c t i o n s between Turin's monuments and organizing them into a supposed esoteric map of the city. Newspaper articles pub- l i s h e d i n 1 9 7 2 a n d 1 9 7 3 helped bring these theories to a wider public, and monu- m e n t s t h a t h a d s t o o d f o r d e c a d e s , s o m e t i m e s c e n - turies, acquired meanings that their original designers may never have considered. Today, visitors to Piazza S o l f e r i n o c a n a d m i r e t h e F o n t a n a A n g e l i c a a s R i v a designed it, with its four fig- ures representing the seasons and its elaborate decorations c e l e b r a t i n g t h e c y c l e s o f nature. Those interested in Turin's more mysterious rep- utation, however, will find p l e n t y o f o t h e r d e t a i l s t o examine, from the supposed Masonic pillars to the sym- bols hidden among the sculp- tures. Whether these inter- p r e t a t i o n s h a v e a n y connection with Riva's inten- tions remains, quite aptly considering the subject, a true mystery. Piazza Solferino and the making of magical Turin GIULIA FRANCESCHINI ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES Piazza Solferino in Turin, with the Fontana Angelica and the Mole Antonelliana visible in the background; inset, a detail of the fountain's elaborate sculptural dec- orations, which have inspired numerous esoteric interpretations over the years. (Original images created for L'Italo-Americano with the assistance of AI)

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