REPRINTED FROM 11-18-2010
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A BTR UGUST 16-22, 2019 51
Rockefeller Fountain restored
The Rockefeller Fountain at the Bronx Zoo is also called the Italian Fountain
and was sculpted by Biagio Catella in 1872 and purchased for the zoo
by William Rockefeller in 1902.
Today, Como, Italy is a popular
tourist locale in the Lombardy
region due to its proximity
to the southern area of
the Alps and its beautiful lake.
Few people seem to realize that
back in1859 there was no Italy;
it was an assemblage of citystates.
Then Giuseppi Garibaldi
came along and freed
Como from the Austrians and
the Kingdom of Italy was established
in 1861. This was the
setting in 1860 when the city of
Como began reclaiming an unused
harbor area to create Piazza
Cavour. A decade later, a
wealthy trader named Sebastiano
Mondolfo hired sculptor
Biagio Catella to design a
fountain to beautify the area.
Biagio completed the commission
in only six months and
the three-tiered fountain of
Bianco Pi Italian marble with
varied fl oral and wildlife motifs
was unveiled on September
23, 1872.
The fountain also served a
very practical purpose as the
townspeople now had a plentiful
and close supply of water
fed by Mount Olimpino. There
were, however, a few naysayers
in the city who objected to
the nudity in the design and
thought that Catella didn’t
properly confi gure the swan
motif. The objections became
rather mute as it later turned
out. Because of serious fi scal
problems in the city, it became
fi nancially too diffi cult to
maintain the fountain which
was using quite a bit of water.
It was fi nally decided to dismantle
the sculpture and place
it in storage in 1891.
William Rockefeller found
out about the fountain and decided
to purchase it. That was
in 1902 and the cost was only
about $637 but the cost of moving
it to the Bronx was another
$25,000. This was no great
problem for Rockefeller and
the following year it was installed
in the Bronx Zoo where
it can be seen to this very day.
The setting was altered to the
design of architects Heins and
La Farge and moved to Astor
Court near Rainey Gate in
1910. It stands 28’ high and 33’
wide and was declared a New
York City landmark in 1968.
The Italian Fountain, also
known as the Rockefeller Fountain,
was fully restored by the
A. Ottavino Corporation and
the Building Conservation Associates,
Inc. and unveiled in a
special ceremony on September
14, 2008. Representatives
from Como, Italy were on hand
for the celebration and opera
star Michael Amante sang for
the occasion. Bronx Zoo offi
cials and local political fi gures
were also on hand for the
unveiling. The next time you
happen to be in the zoo, make
it a point to stop by the restored
fountain and think back to how
it all started in Como, Italy in
1872.
BRONX SCENE