I painted a plein air version in gouache on paper when I was in Tuscany in 2018. The energy of that sketch informed this much larger painting. I wanted to keep it from becoming a realistic rendition of the scene, something I seem to do automatically. Instead, I kept it loose and semi-abstract, with a more realistic focus on the well itself.

One of the residents of the small hilltop town of Celle Sul Rigo, where this well is located, informed me that this is the "new"well. Apparently it had been renovated in the 1600s from a structure dating back to the 1100s. "new" is a relative tern in Italy!