Cited by Dante in Canto 30 of the Inferno, Fontebranda is the oldest and most impressive of the Sienese fountains. The first notice we have is in legal documents from 1081, but the surviving form, which replaced the earlier fountain, seems to date from the end of the thirteenth century. It is the fountain that witnessed the birth and early life of Saint Catherine, who for this reason is known as the Saint of Fontebranda.