The Pozzo di San Patrizio (English: "St. Patrick's Well") is a historic

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

Orvieto Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are compl ...

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

, central Italy. It was built by the architect-engineer

Antonio da Sangallo the Younger 250px, A model of the Apostolic Palace, which was the main project of Bramante during Sangallo's apprenticeship. 250px, The church of Santa Maria di Loreto near the Rome.html"_;"title="Trajan's_Market_in_Rome">Trajan's_Market_in_Rome. image: ...

of Florence, between 1527 and 1537, at the behest of

Pope Clement VII Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...

who had taken refuge at Orvieto during the

sack of Rome in 1527 The Sack of Rome, then part of the Papal States, followed the capture of the city on 6 May 1527 by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor during the War of the League of Cognac. Despite not being ordered to storm the city, wit ...

by the

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) fro ...

, and feared that the city's water supply would be insufficient in the event of a siege. The well was completed in 1537 during the papacy of

Pope Paul III Pope Paul III ( la, Paulus III; it, Paolo III; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death in November 1549. He came to ...

. The name was inspired by medieval legends that

St. Patrick's Purgatory St Patrick's Purgatory is an ancient pilgrimage site on Station Island in Lough Derg, County Donegal, Ireland. According to legend, the site dates from the fifth century, when Christ showed Saint Patrick a cave, sometimes referred to as a p ...

in Ireland gave access down to

Purgatory Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...

, indicating something very deep. The architect-engineer Antonio da Sangallo the Younger surrounded the central well shaft with two helical ramps in a

double helix A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

, accessed by two doors, which allowed mules to carry empty and full water vessels separately in downward and upward directions without obstruction. The cylindrical well is deep with a base diameter of . There are 248 steps and 70 windows provide illumination.Dal sito del Comune di Orvieto: A

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

inscription on the well states QUOD NATURA MUNIMENTO INVIDERAT INDUSTRIA ADIECIT 'what nature stinted for provision, industry has supplied'.

Gallery

File:Pozzo san patrizio orvieto.JPG, The Pozzo di San Patrizio, a well built for Rome commissioned by Pope Clement VII Image:Orvieto Pozzo San Patrizio 4.JPG, Interior view, showing the

double helix staircase Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage ...

Notes

References

Review of Pozzo di San Patrizio (St. Patrick's Well)
at Frommers (tourism site) {{Coord, 42.722, N, 12.121, E, display=title Buildings and structures completed in 1537 Buildings and structures in Umbria Double spiral staircases Water wells 1537 establishments in the Papal States