Orvieto's famed St Patrick's Well has
got onto UNESCO's list of water museums.
The spectacular feat of engineering by Antonio da Sangallo the
Younger has been added to the Global Network of Water Museums
(WAMU-Net), which includes over 70 museums and institutions in
30 countries.
The 53-metre deep well was built by Florentine Sangallo between
1527 and 1537, at the behest of Pope Clement VII who had taken
refuge at Orvieto during the sack of Rome in 1527 by the Holy
Roman Emperor Charles V, and feared that the city's water supply
would be insufficient in the event of a siege. The well was
completed in 1537 during the papacy of Pope Paul III.
The name was inspired by medieval legends that St. Patrick's
Purgatory in Ireland gave access down to Purgatory, indicating
something very deep.
The POzzo di San Patrizio is the second biggest attraction in
the Umbrian town after the Duomo with its magnificent frescoes
of the Last Judgment by Luca Signorelli.
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