Have You Ever Wondered About our Fountain?

The Fountain that resides at the center of Caffe Riace's piazza, "Body of an Urban Myth," was commissioned by private developer Harold Hobach n 1997, by artist Brian Goggin.

According to his website www.metaphorm.org, his work:  "...explores how we perceive and interact with our everyday environment. He looks to imagination mixed with the site, material relevance, architecture, philosophy and literature as conceptual influences. The literary genre of magic realism has informed many of his works in which familiar objects are placed in unexpected settings to invite an experience of re-enchantment. Using a research-based approach, intuitive visioning and a wide range of materials, he re-imagines historic narratives blurring past, present and fictional contexts, offering new links within public spaces that seek to awaken existential dimensions." The classical figure that we see at Caffe Riace with the female figure holding up the washing machine over her head certainly achieves what the artist had in mind: "familiar objects placed in unexpected settings." At Caffe Riace, the fountain that graces our beautiful Italian Piazza has been enjoyed not only for its soothing water sounds, but as a point of conversation and curiosity. Is she holding the washing machine up in triumph? Or is the ordinary simply amplified in a new way? Whatever the meaning, Goggin's work has added some wonderful conversation starters to the many meals enjoyed by our guests at Caffe Riace over the years.