I Quattro Canti, or Piazza Vigliena, named after the Spanish viceroy who had it designed, is a splendid octagonal square in Palermo. Its construction represents the first and most important urban-planning event of the modern age as it constitutes the meeting point between what were the city’s main thoroughfares: Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Maqueda.
It is known by the people of Palermo as the Quattro Canti di Città as opposed to the Quattro Canti di Campagna at the intersection of today’s Via Mariano Stabile and Via Ruggero Settimo. The word ‘canti’ stands for canton: the four cantons symbolised the four districts or ‘mandamenti’ of Palermo: Tribunali, Castellammare, Monte di Pietà and Palazzo Reale. Each canton features an allegory of a season, as well as a fountain, each representing the four rivers that once washed Palermo, and a Carrara marble statue depicting the district’s patron saint: Sant’Oliva, Sant’Agata, Santa Cristina and Santa Ninfa.
If you are wondering who those four imposing male figures are, the answer is simple: the Spanish kings Philip IV, Philip III, Charles V and Philip II. The square was also once called Teatro del Sole (Theatre of the Sun) because at least one of the architectural wings is illuminated by the sun during daylight hours. Today it is a favourite setting during the fest of Santa Rosalia.