The Fontana della Pigna, located in Piazza Cavour next to the statue of Paul V, was built in 1543 by Giovanni da Carrara respecting the original structure.
Much older is in fact the drum that supports the Pigna, dating back to Roman times and rich in bas-reliefs.
The beauty and shape of the waterworks enchanted even Leonardo da Vinci whose testimony is engraved on the monument: "Fassi un’armonia con le diverse cadute d’acqua, come vedesti alla fonte di Rimini."
Leonardo in fact came to Rimini as engineer and military advisor to Cesare Borgia, and was struck by the joyous sound of the water spouts of the City’s main fountain.
As he himself writes: "He made a harmony with the different falls of water, as you saw at the fountain of Rimini on the 8th of August 1502".
This harmony would have suggested him the idea of building a hydraulic organ using water not as a pump to compress the air, as it happened in the traditional organs known, but making the water itself playing, falling into vases of different shapes.
The fountain was the only source of drinking water in the city until 1912, when the public aqueduct was inaugurated, and even today its water is appreciated by passers-by, especially on hot summer evenings.
The pine cone replaced in 1809 the small statue of St. Paul placed in 1545 and now visible in the City Museum.
