The next stop on our route lies 12.5 km from the village of Santa Gertrudis and again features water as its main attraction. This simple rustic wellspring appeared on the historical record in 1765, when the engineer Josep García Martínez included it for the first time on a map of Ibiza. Located at the foot of a hill known as Mont d’Atzaró, the waters of this fountain have long irrigated local farmsteads, famed for their fertility.
This well is not a fancy ornamental site, but rather an unassuming piece of island culture that will show you how farmers optimized the supply of fresh water that sprang from its depths. Other elements contained within this heritage ensemble are the safareig (a water cistern built at ground level), a laundry basin with an old inscription warning against washing wool, irrigation channels that carried water to the fields, and the ruins of an oil press, part of which was built using the opus spicatum technique in which the stone or brick was laid in a fishbone pattern.
From the place where the fountain is located, you can also see two inland towers: the tower of Can Rieró and that of Montserrat, which pertain to a ruined house.
If you feel like stretching your legs, why not take a walk along hiking route nº 2, which passes right by this fountain?
Curiosities
Legend has it that Atzaró Fountain is one of the few wellsprings on the island that never runs dry. A good day to go there and see for yourself is 24th June, the festivity of St. John, when local residents get together to celebrate with traditional well dances (ballades de pou).
