At first sight, the fountain in Piazza Solferino may seem like a common fountain, but it is full of hidden meanings and alchemical symbols, like many monuments in Torino. The carved figures depict the four seasons: spring and summer the female statues, autumn and winter the giants in the middle. Winter looks to the East, a sacred spot from which the sun always rises. The two male characters symbolise Boaz and Jaquim, the supporters of the columns of Hercules, guardians placed on the threshold of Infinity, beyond which one enters into a dimension that the profane cannot trespass: the Luminous Cavern, which hosts the alchemical mysteries that govern the world.
Knowledge is represented by water, which the characters pour from their wineskins. The two female figures depict the aspects of love, the sacred (the Spring, Virtue) and the profane (the Summer, Vice) and the two aspects of knowledge.
