Saturday, 3 October 2026

The Galleon Fountain at the Casina of Pius IV in the Vatican is covered in ice

A fountain shaped like a sailing ship, its masts and rigging covered in ice and icicles, in front of a building and a brick wall.

The frozen Galleon Fountain in the courtyard of the Casina of Pius IV in the Vatican usually fires water, "extinguishing the fire of war", in the phrase of Pope Urban VIII. But these days the galleon is sheathed in a crust of ice, which is more allegorical still

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