Porcellino

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Well worn snout of Il Porcellino in the Mercato Nuovo, Florence, Italy

Il Porcellino (Italian "piglet") is the local Florentine nickname for the bronze fountain of a boar.

Originally intended for the Boboli Garden, then moved in the Mercato Nuovo in Florence, Italy. the fountain was placed originally facing east, in via Calimala, in front of the Farmacia del Cinghiale, which is the proper italian noun for Boar. To ensure more space to the traffic it was later moved in the side facing south, where it still stands as one of the most popular spots for tourists. The present statue is only a copy, while the original is sheltered in the new Museo Bardini.

The fountain figure was sculpted and cast by Baroque master Pietro Tacca (1577 –1640) in 1612, following a marble Italian copy of a Hellenistic marble original, at the time in the Grand Ducal collections and today in display in the classical section of the Uffizi Museum.

Visitors to Il Porcellino put a coin into the gaping boar's jaws with the intent to let it fall through the underlying grating for good luck and rub the boar's snout to ensure a return to Firenze, a tradition that has kept the snout in a state of polished sheen while the rest of the boar's body has patinated to a dull brownish-green.

[edit] Copies

Copies of the sculpture can be found around the world. Some of the locations are:

University of Waterloo- Faculty of Arts- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Viansa Winery - Sonoma, CA, USA
Lyndon Center - Lyndon, VT, USA
Sutton Park - New York, NY, USA
University of Arkansas campus - Fayetteville, AR, USA
Sydney Hospital - Sydney, NSW, Australia
Derby Arboretum - Derby, Great Britain
Butchart Gardens - Victoria, BC, Canada
In front of the Deutschen Jagd- und Fischereimuseum,- Munich, Germany
The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom amusement park at Queensbury, NY. Just inside the entrance.
Place Richelme - Aix-en-Provence, France
R.W. Norton Art Gallery - Shreveport, LA
Museum of Outdoor Arts - Englewood, CO
N.W. Corner of 47th Street and Wornall Road - Kansas City, MO, USA
Brotorvet - Holstebro, Denmark
Poinsett Plaza - Greenville, SC