Porcellino

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Il Porcellino (Italian "piglet") is the local Florentine name for the bronze fountain of a boar Il Cinghiale in the Mercato Nuovo in Florence, Italy. The fountain figure was sculpted and cast by Baroque master Pietro Tacca (1577 –1640) in 1612, following a marble Italian copy of a Hellenistic marble original, at the time in the Grand Ducal collections of the Uffizi, but which has since been lost or destroyed. Visitors to Il Porcellino toss a coin into the grating at the boar's feet and rub the boar's snout to ensure a return to Firenze, a tradition that has kept the snout in a state of polished sheen while the rest of the boar's body has patinated to a dull brownish-green. Copies of the sculpture can be found around the world.

Sightings Around the World:

• Sydney Hospital - Sydney, NSW, Australia
• Viansa Winery - Sonoma, CA, USA
• Derby Arboretum - Derby, Great Britain
• Butchart Gardens - Victoria, BC, Canada
• University of Waterloo - Waterloo, ON, Canada
• Sutton Place Park - New York, NY, USA
• Aix en Provence, France

• Lyndonville, VT