QUATTRO CANTI (PIAZZA VIGLIENA)

Quattro Canti, officially known as Piazza Vigliena, is a Baroque square in Palermo , Sicily, southern Italy.

It was laid out on the orders of the Viceroy the Duke of Maqueda between 1608-1620 by Giulio Lasso at the crossing of the two principal streets in Palermo, the Via Maqueda and the Corso Vittorio Emanuele.

The piazza is octagonal four sides being the streets, and the remaining four sides are Baroque buildings the near identical facades of which contain fountains with statues of the four seasons, the four Spanish kings of Sicily, and of the patronesses of Palermo, (Cristina, Ninfa, Olivia, and Agata). The facades onto the interchange are curved, and rise to four floors; the fountains rise to the height of the second floor, the third and fourth floors contain the statues in niches. At the time the piazza was built, it was one of the first major examples of town planning in Europe.