In his Nuova Guida per la città di Arezzo, Oreste Brizi states that the Public Fountain is situated on the left of Piazza Grande and supplied by waters which travel for more than a mile from the aqueduct and the Fortress Hill tunnel. The adductor aqueduct and tunnel were realised in 1600 on a plan and under the direction of engineer Santi di Pagni. The fountain in Piazza Grande supplied the Public Fountain and the horse trough in via Sant’Agostino and «the water reached there after serving various wheat mills situated between one fountain and the other», as well as a wash-house on the same street, «the water of which then gave motion to the millstones of other mills in the city».