Fountain of Neptune, Florence

Bartolomeo Ammannati's marble Neptune towers over the Piazza della Signoria beside the Palazzo Vecchio, with marble sea horses at his feet and bronze sea gods and satyrs around the basin's rim. It was meant to be ready for a Medici wedding in 1565, was dressed up with stucco and paint for the day, and was only finished in 1574. Florentines never warmed to the pale giant and still call him "Il Biancone," the big white one. A two-year cleaning and repair, paid for largely by the Salvatore Ferragamo fashion house, was unveiled in 2019.