Welcome to the site Napoliforme

The tuffaceous hill behind the coast of Santa Lucia and Mergellina, once rich in springs, supplied some of the town's fountains, and the water from the Fonte del Leone spring, known as the Mergoglino (Mergellina) spring in the 17th century, was particularly prized. The fountain was built during the renovation of Ferdinand IV's fishing lodge at Mergellina (1785) and became famous for its water, considered the best in Naples, which gushes from the mouth of a marble lion in a large basin. The kitchens of the Royal Palace were supplied with it every day; even Ferdinand II drank only this water and when he travelled through the Kingdom his provisions included sealed containers for the Lion's water. Redesigned in the 19th century and moved a few metres, the fountain is surrounded by a stone hemicycle accessed by two flights of steps, separated by the base on which the statue of the lion rests, and the water from two spouts falls into two basins in the centre of the stone structure. According to tradition, the spring originates from the weeping of a Neapolitan prince who, on the death of the lion that accompanied him everywhere, realised he had lost his only trusted friend. A more romantic version of the legend recalls the prince's despair at the disappearance of his beloved woman. From his tears, shed to the point of exhaustion, the spring was born and the lion, his faithful companion, became its guardian.