Description
The monumental fountain Longano e Idria, by Francesco De Francesco, made of marble, was inaugurated on 5 April 1998. In front of the minor Basilica of san Sebastiano, is part of the project for the redevelopment of Piazza Duomo, curated by architects Sebastiano Raimondo and Giuseppe Bruno. The fountain refers to the two streams, the Longano and TheIdria, which cross the city, and ideally represent the union of Barcellona and Pozzo di Gotto which took place in 1835.
The name Longano appears mentioned for the first time in relation to the battle between Hiero II of Syracuse and the Mamertines in 269 BC. Naturally the Longano At that time it was very different from the current one, it lacked embankments, and various branches flowed freely in the alluvial plain, reclaimed starting from the 16th-17th century. In 1757, following a flood that devastated Barcelona, the first real embankment works were carried out, thanks to the intervention of the royal engineer Poulet. In the very early 1920s the diversion of the Longano in the Nasari area, whose drained riverbed was used first to build the cattle market and then the fruit and vegetable market.
The creek Idria flows in the Pozzo di Gotto area. Its initial name, as reported by historian Filippo Rossitto, was Mustack or rather Aganarite. Subsequently, and until the 19th century, it was called Lando, as it originates from Mount Lando. Finally, it took the definitive name of Itria (distorted as Idria), because along its course, near the hamlet of Lando, around the 12th century the first church dedicated to the Madonna dell' aroseIdriaThis cult was widespread in Southern Italy and Sicily, brought by Greek Basilian monks. Today, the ancient church of Lando is abandoned and in ruins.
