Monuments in Cervia
Fontana Il Tappeto Sospeso
Il Tappeto Sospeso is the fountain in Piazzale dei Salinari in Cervia, opposite Magazzino del Sale Darsena. The mosaic rises from the basin and seems supported by water jets. The work recalls the salt town's history and can be viewed freely during a canal harbour walk.
The mosaic and salt mounds
Tonino Guerra conceived the fountain for the three-hundredth anniversary of Cervia Nuova. Marco Bravura created it in 1997 with his daughter Dusciana, using hand-cut marble and glass-paste tesserae. The carpet's surface measures three metres by five.
Two marble and crystal mounds recall salt and the salt-making town's identity; the clump of reeds belongs, in Guerra's words, to the same world as the salt workers, with memories of dunes and birds in reed beds. Moving water produces the effect suggested by the name, while the mosaic also connects the composition to Ravenna's artistic tradition.
A walk among salt-related places
The fountain occupies the square opposite the historic salt warehouses, near Torre San Michele and the canal harbour. Previously an unpaved car park, the square was paved to accommodate the work: a contemporary creation among salt-production buildings.
Nearby Museo del Sale preserves tools and accounts of that work, and the Magazzini del Sale can be visited a few steps away.
Images
Images without credits come from the site's previous version.