Fontana di Sperone

The Sperone Fountain is located in Selva Paradina, south of the centre in this Irpinian town.

Set in against evocative naturalistic backdrop, the Fountain has always been renowned for the pleasantness of the site and for the beneficial properties of the magnesium-rich water that flows from the spring: in the last century, in fact, the local population came here to stock up on a very sought-after good. An inscription in Latin above the spring recalls the generosity of Countess Livia Colonna who, in the 19th century, due to hydrogeological events that had disrupted the area, ensured that the waters were channelled, avoiding the risk that they would disperse and, at the same time, enabling the Fountain to be restored.

Today, the site is equipped with a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, built in the 1950s. Behind this small and intimate religious building is the fascinating story of the hermit of the Church of Sant'Elia Profeta (Saint Elijah the Prophet), who used to go to the Sperone Fountain as an ideal, mystical place; for a long time, he yearned to build a church in honour of Saint Mary of the Assumption into Heaven in this wonderful landscape. Afflicted by mutism, the man found strength and more than just economic aid in the community of Sperona and the local workers to build the small church with stones and materials carried up the hill by hand. Today, it still houses an admirable statue of the Virgin Mary, with an unusual iconography: open hands, instead of hands held together in prayer.

The community of Sperona takes advantage of this green area, which is also equipped with a picnic area, especially in summer, when they come looking for some coolness and relief from the heat of the town, in contact with spontaneous, uncontaminated nature.