An imposing and magnificent setting of light stone that stands out against the blue, framing the sea and sky of Naples as if in a painting.
It is one of the most beautiful and representative fountains in the city of Partenope, linked to its history and its myths already in its name, the Fontana Fonseca or Fontana del Sebeto. Indeed, in the names: one referring to the historical figure who had it built, the viceroy Emanuele Zunica y Fonseca, Count of Monterey, the other to the Sebeto river, sacralized and mythologized since the time of the founding Greeks. And he, Sebeto, is depicted in the central figure of the bearded old man, lying on his right side inside a shell, which dominates the complex sculptural representation. A masterpiece whose paternity had long been attributed only to Carlo Fanzago, before attributing it to the design genius of the much more famous father Cosimo, reducing his son's contribution to the merely executive phase of the work.
Like most of the fountains in Naples, this one has not remained in its original location, for which it was designed. It was commissioned by Viceroy Fonseca in 1635 and it was intended for the descent of the Giant, formerly Strada Guzmana, today Via Cesario Console, in Santa Lucia. To accommodate the new monument, a large niche had been dug in the wall above the arsenal. The fountain also had a great and immediate impact in that location, where it remained for almost three centuries, before its removal in 1900. Dismantled, it remained awaiting an alternative site for 39 years, when it was reassembled in the new Largo Sermoneta, upon completion. of the works on the last stretch of via Caracciolo. An arrangement that proved ideal for enhancing the imposing beauty of the work, setting it in the iconic panorama of the Neapolitan seafront.
The base of the sculptural group is formed by a dark piperno plinth on which the light marble base rests, like the rest of the work. On the base there are three basins, of which the central one projects more than the lateral ones. The structure which develops in height, enriched by suggestive volutes, is supported by a segmental arch. Clearly visible are the three heraldic coats of arms of the king of Spain, the viceroy and the city of Naples. The dominant figure is that of the old river. Leaning against the two pedritti on its sides are two tritons, carrying "whelks" on their shoulders from which jets of water come out and end up in the two smaller side basins. To complete the scenography, there are two pyramidal obelisks, surmounted by globes and, originally, by stars that have been lost.
To adapt it to the new location, a rear façade was added in 1939, leaving the inside of the arch uncovered, so as to leave the view of the landscape behind free. Also on the back side, an inscription was placed with the history of the movement of the work.
The Sebeto river, at the origins of the city
According to the myth, Sebeto joined the mermaid Parthenope and Sebetide was born from them. She, who married the king of Capri Telone, gave birth to Ebalo. From the island he managed to expand his dominions into the continental territories of Campania, including Palepolis, and therefore he is mentioned by various classical poets, including Virgil in the Aeneid, where he is indicated among the enemies of Aeneas. On the documentary level, coins from the 5th and 4th centuries BC have been found. On them is depicted the face of a young man with a horn on his forehead and the writing “Sepeitos” and on the opposite side a winged woman on an overturned hydra with the writing “Neapolites”. Near the Market gate, an inscription from the imperial age has resurfaced, with a small temple in honor of Sebeto and the words: “P. Mevio Eutico reconsecrated a chapel to the Sebeto", from which we can deduce the existence of an ancient temple dedicated to the river, according to a tradition of the Greeks of Euboea, who deified the waterways of their territories.
Beyond the myth and historical evidence that indirectly confirms its existence, the Sebeto was a river that reached the sea after crossing Naples. Its origin has been located on Monte Somma or, more precisely according to a local scholar, under the church of Santa Maria del Pozzo in Somma Vesuviana. Its course affected the Vesuvian area and then reached the area between the current via Pessina and via Medina, where there is the strip of land that separated the more ancient Palepolis from the subsequent Neapolis, during the first phase of coexistence and proximity, before the two towns joined together. If the name, from the Greek “sepheitos”, meaning "proceeding with an impetuous regime", would not lead you to imagine it, it was also a river navigable for a long stretch. And also for this reason, in the following centuries, the river divinity was an important and even fundamental presence for the life of the constantly expanding Greek city.
Already in the Middle Ages, however, its capacity had been significantly reduced, so much so that it was no longer navigable nor even decisive for urban settlement, probably due to the earthquake of 1343 and the drying up of the marshes in the eastern quadrant of the city. Then, in the 20th century, the last stretches of its course that still remained outdoors were definitively buried.
