Il Tappeto Sospeso Fountain - The suspended carpet
Made by the mosaic artist Marco Bravura, from Ravenna, the fountain looks like a marble and glass paste flying carpet, containing two salt heaps made of marble and crystal.
The fountain has pride of place in town: the square in front of the old Salt Warehouses, with the Torre di San Michele and the Canal Harbour pole. It is an artwork by the mosaic artist from Ravenna Marco Bravura, who was helped by his daughter Dusciana, also a mosaic artist, reminding viewers of Byzantine culture in Imperial Ravenna. The large carpet (3x5 m) with thousands of mosaic pieces, all cut by hand, is apparently a cloud of steam which makes it look as if it were magically suspended mid-air, giving the artwork its evocative power. On top, two salt heaps symbolise the identity and history of the salt city: a heritage of nature and customs which should never be lost, while the flight of the carpet symbolised the town’s wish to grow and discover new routes.
The description of the fountain by the poet who came up with the idea, Tonino Guerra: “… the underlying concept is a fountain, which we called The Suspended Carpet, consisting of a large irregular-shaped pond, with about forty centimetres of water, above which there is a mosaic carpet suspended over several water jets, forming something similar to clouds. The carpet carries some salt heaps and a bunch of reeds: these symbols stand for the salt flat civilisation with its aromas and poetry, the memories of beaches in the olden days with dunes and birds in cane thickets, are flying away from us, but they are melancholically becoming engrained in our mind’s eye".
Where: Piazzale dei Salinari, Cervia
Official Tourist Information Site of Cervia