Green Dragons in Milan.

From the mouth of the dragons, fresh water never stops to flow.

From the 1930s, these small fountains supply water to the town of Milan. Their unmistakable shape is that of a small column made from cast iron, whose top seems a "hat with a bow, as the toque of the magistrates or the cap of the French sailors.”(1) Under it, water sprouts from the mouth of a little dragon, made from brass, to a basin at its feet. The dragon recalls the gargoyles outside the Milan’s Cathedral, the Duomo. Dating back to medieval times, monsters and demons were sculpted in the final part of projecting chutes that collected the rain and discharged it away from the walls. Gargoyles were the work of anonymous artisans, of stone carvers able to create thousands of different forms. The monstrous beings combined pagan traditions to Christian beliefs. They protected the communities from the spiers and roofs of solemn cathedrals, and reminded the pious people of the presence of evil creatures. Legends about a cruel dragon named La Gargouille, who lived in the Seine valley in France, little by little were forgotten, and, after the 16th century, with the introduction of lead gutters, gargoyles became simple decorations.

In Milan, the dragons of the small fountains do not scare but attract passers by with their clear water that seems to gush from a “mossy rock.”(2) After the Second World War, in fact, local authorities decided to paint the small fountains in green lizard to match them with other elements, such as the benches. Only the fountain in Piazza della Scala, the first to be placed probably at the end of the 1920s and the only one made from bronze framed by an elegant mosaic, has never been painted. Under the dragon, the Milan coat of arms, a red cross on a white field, completes their decoration.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the creation of hundreds of free fountains in Milan was probably inspired by the experience of Paris. Here, around 1890, the English philanthropist Sir Richard Wallace financed the construction of public fountains to offer water, which had become an expensive commodity, to the poor. In Milan, the small fountains were placed near markets of flowers and vegetables, flower stalls in public parks, churches and cemeteries so that people and animals could easily drink. Today, the small fountains are lost along busy streets, hidden in parking and neglected in parks. A couple of years ago, MM Metropolitana Milanese, the company in charge for their maintenance, created a map indicating all the 418 small fountains in town to encourage their use and reduce the number of plastic bottles. The company confirmed the high quality of the water and its potability. The water flowing avoids the creation of bacteria and it is not wasted, but collected and channeled to the municipal water purifier and then used in the cultivated fields around town.

The popular name of the small fountains is Drago Verde, Green Dragon. They are also referred to as Vedovelle or Little Widows because the continous flow of water evokes the tears shed by grieving widows.

Pigeons love their fresh water, and, in a hot day of summer, you can enjoy a similar experience. The trick is to plug with your finger the mouth of the dragon, so that the water sprouts out from the top of its head into your mouth or ... somewhere nearby.

 

(1) Vincenzo Bevacqua, Vedovelle Milanesi, p. 76: "il cappello col fiocco come il tocco dei magistrati o il berretto dei marinai francesi."

(2) Ibid. "da una roccia muschiata."

Further reading:
Vincenzo Bevacqua, Vedovelle Milanesi, Milano, 2007.
www.formazione.eu.com/_documents/.../0115.pdf

Photos:
TravelinaGarden,
Painting: Piazza Mercanti fra il Broletto e il Palazzo dei Notai, Grossi Giannino (1889/1969), 1919, oil on canvas board, Civiche Raccolte Storiche. Museo di Milano, Milano (MI)
http://www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/opere-arte/schede/Q1010-00284/
(Piazza dei  Mercanti "Merchant Square"is an historic square in Milan near Duomo).

Links:
On-line map of fountains in Milan, updated by users
http://www.fontanelle.org/Mappa-Fontanelle-Milano-Lombardia.aspx