Fishpond
The fishpond, a Romanesque-inspired masterpiece, crossed by a bridge with three arches is reminiscent of the Fishpond at Palazzo Te while the bridge recalls the Roman bridge (Ponte Pietra) in the city of Verona. This illustrates how water was the life-giving element par excellence, so much so that the canalizations and the spectacular devices consisting of fountains, Fishpond and upper and lower nymphaea could very likely not be separated from the general project of the entire residence.
Veronica Franco, courtesan-poetess and guest of Marcantonio Della Torre, in her Poem In Lode di Fumane (In Praise of Fumane), describes how the waters were conveyed to the villa from several sources, arriving ‘in various courses’ towards a common end point: the Fishpond. The water flowed both in the fountains (one situated in the center of the Peristyle, the other in the garden), and out of small gargoyle-like masks and, funneled and channeled, continued running along open ducts, continuing its course towards the Fishpond and from here, flowing by way of gravity, down into the Grotto below through the mouth of a mask.
