Green fountains in Milan – drinking water
Green street fountains in Milan – drinking water
Walking around Milan you can see street green fountains with running water. Not everyone knows that this water is drinking. You don’t need to buy bottled water in bars and supermarkets in Milan. Just fill up your bottles in the green fountains. This water is clean, continiuosly tested and filtred in a very thourough way!
We call those fountains Vedovella or The Green Dragon. There 586 Greem Dragons in the city of Milan!
The red cross on the fountains is the symbol of Milan and not the “danger” mak!
The first drinking fountain was installed in 1880 in piazza della Scala and from that time it started one of the favorite things in the city. So, get this experience!
During our city bike tours in Milano we always stop to drink from the green fountains with tourists. In case you don’t have a bottle, just close with your finger the stream and the water will go up from the hole on top of the Dragon’s head. So you can drink easily without the bottle.
“What a waist!”
You have certainly noticed: the water fountains do not have a tap! “What a waist!” – you must think. Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean a waste of water.
The amount of water supplied by the fountains is in fact negligible compared to the flow of water distributed by the Milanese aqueduct.
Furthermore, the flow out of the fountains is not unnecessarily dispersed but, through the sewer, reaches the purifiers of Milan, and is then used by agricultural consortia to irrigate the fields in the south of the city.
Finally, the continuous water flow of the street fountains performs the important function of keeping the water always in motion, preserving its freshness and good quality in correspondence with the blind terminal pipes.
The water temperature in the street fountains is constantly 12-13 C. So refreshing in the hot summer days!
Hereby you can find an online map of the city fountains.
More interessting facts about Milano you will get on our city bike tour. Join us! Bike tours in English, Dutch and German!