Considered by the art historian Bernhard Berenson as “the most beautiful fountain of the European 16th century,” the pyramidal fountain raises up in Piazza Duomo, and it is dedicated to Orion, who, according to one of the legends of the city, was the mythical founder of Messina. 

Constructed in 1551 by Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli, pupil of Michelangelo, the work was commissioned by the Senate in 1547 to commemorate the construction of the first aqueduct of Messina. Montorsoli chose the subject together with Francesco Maurolico, who was also the author of the Latin epigraphs engraved on it. 

The pre-baroque-style fountain has a polygonal receiving base with twelve sides, on which eight basins lay on two different levels: on the board of each basin of the upper level, there are four male-like statues which represent the rivers Nile, Tiber, Ebro and Camaro. Under the representations of the rivers, decorative elements are created to remember the native countries of the rivers, and you can read Latin couplets - made by Maurolico - and see the bas-reliefs made by Montorsoli. 

Eight sea monsters complete the base of the fountain. In the middle, a stele raises up with Orion on the top. He is represented with his faithful dog, Sirius, behind him at his feet, while his right hand greets and his left one lays on his escutcheon, the symbol of Messina. The stele, which raises Orion to heaven, is decorated with mythological figures: four triton caryatids who support the first circular basin and four naiads who support the second basin on which four putti riding dolphins rest.