A “not to be missed” popular place in Florence is the “Porcellino” (the piglet), in fact a bronze boar fountain in the loggia of the “Mercato Nuovo”. Rub his nose and put a coin in his mouth for good luck! Also admire the sculpture by maestro Piero Tasca, commissioned by Cosimo de Medicis in 1612, but with copies now existing in many cities all over the world!
When you stroll in Florence, you cannot miss the loggia of the “Mercato Nuovo” (the New Market), built around the middle of the 16th century in the heart of the city, just a few steps from the Ponte Vecchio. It is a small market where today you can buy many souvenirs. On the south side of the loggia, you will see the famous bronze statue of a boar, with its shiny nose, as so many people have rubbed it for good fortune: you have to put a coin in his mouth and let it slip, hoping it would fall between the grates and fulfill your wishes. There are a lot of legends linked to this “Porcellino”. A 19th century US author, Charles Godfrey Leland, who settled in Florence for a part of his life, wrote about the fountain in his book “Legends of Florence collected from the People”. The Danish writer Hans Cristian Anderson also wrote a story inspired by this fountain called “The Bronze Hog”: a young boy falls asleep on the back of the bronze boar and during the night, the boar comes to life and takes him through the streets of Florence…
You also have to know that the “Porcellino” is a copy of a copy of a copy …The bronze boar was originally sculpted and casted by Baroque Master Pietro Tacca shortly before 1634, inspired by a marble Italian copy of a Greek marble original, which was a gift from the Pope to the Medici in the 1560s. What you will see today is a 20th century copy installed when the original bronze was moved into the Uffizzi museum (with so many people rubbing it, his nose was becoming too thin!).
And many other copies of the boar have been made recently in many cities all over the world: in Australia, in the USA (in 12 states!), in Denmark, in Sweden, in Germany, in Great Britain…
Do you have many wishes to express? Then, come to Florence in Italy! The “Porcellino” is waiting for you and will certainly fulfill them…