Pieroni’s Fountain – An Italian Immigrant’s Search for Respectability in Victorian Bath

Thanks to the number of coaches and tour buses that stop nearby, the fountain on Bath’s Terrace Walk is one of the most photographed objects in the city. Few realise, though, that this relic from a forgotten past once stood in an even more prominent position, dispensing water from Bath’s hot springs to passers-by. Even fewer know anything of its creator, Stefan Vallerio Pieroni, whose name can still be traced around the base of the fountain.

This timely study brings Pieroni and his world vividly to life, introducing us to a city whose turbulence and infighting belies the image of untroubled gentility so often associated with Victorian Bath.