The bronze pine cone of the Cortile della Pigna

The Fontana della Pigna, or simply Pigna, stands in Vatican City, Rome, Italy. This large bronze pine cone is almost four meters high and was originally positioned near the Pantheon next to the Temple of Isis. It was moved to the courtyard of the Old St. Peter's Basilica during the Middle Ages and then moved again, in 1608, to its present location.

The courtyard where it stands was originally part of the Cortile del Belvedere, designed by Donato Bramante to connect the palace of Pope Innocent VIII with the Sistine Chapel. When Bramante died, architect Pirro Ligorio finished the project and added the wall and niche to close the courtyard. Construction of the Vatican Library divided the courtyard into two areas, and the upper part takes its name from the fountain.

The bronze peacocks on either side of the fountain are copies of those decorating the tomb of the Emperor Hadrian, which is now the Castel Sant'Angelo. The original peacocks are in the Braccio Nuovo Museum. In his Divine Comedy, Dante describes the size of the head of the giant Nimrod by referencing this fountain.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons