How this map is made

Two rules, depending on what the point is. Things that break — water points, toilets — are published only with the date someone went and checked, and the name of whoever did: today that is always an OpenStreetMap or fontanelle.org mapper, never us, and some of those dates are years old. We show the date rather than hide it. Things that don’t change — a square, a bridge, a façade — are published once the source has been checked, and the source is named; they carry no author, because reading a database is not a walk.

What’s published right now

• acqua: 87, plus 15 reported broken — on the map, struck through, at the bottom
• bagno: 6
• studio: 60
• vedere: 229
• utile: 133
• parco: 52

Checked by OpenStreetMap mappers and the fontanelle.org community (2010-07-22 → 2026-07-17). 93 points out of 582 carry one.

How a business gets on the map

There is one condition: you offer a real free service — tap water at the counter, or the toilet — to anyone who asks, with no obligation to buy, and it can be checked on the spot in thirty seconds. You do not get in by paying, and you do not get pushed out because someone else paid.

Businesses appear in the same list as every other point. The list is ordered by distance from your position when you give it to us, and from the city centre when we do not know it; then points whose check is more than three years old sink below fresh alternatives nearby, and points reported broken go last. A business pays neither to be there nor for its position, and it does not skip the queue: it enters the same list, with the same card.

What we don’t do

• No ratings, no rankings, no stars. We say what was there, and when.
• No cookies, no third-party trackers, no sign-up, no email collection.
• No third-party prices. Where a line says something costs, it says only that, never how much: a figure goes stale on its own. We don’t write opening hours either: we show OpenStreetMap’s, named as theirs, with the caveat next to them — and where the syntax isn’t readable we don’t say whether it’s open.

What we give back

The point data comes from OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL licence. Every correction we make on foot goes back there with its date, so anyone can use it — including us. We take from a commons and we maintain it.

When this map switches itself off

The most likely way a project like this dies is not a mistake: it is staying online after it is over. That is why every point carries the date of its check in plain sight, and the oldest ones sink to the bottom of the list instead of sitting at the top: if this map ages, you can see it, point by point.

If the project closes, the checked points stay on OpenStreetMap with their dates. What the host businesses have supported does not disappear with the sign.

Who runs it

Ortolano is a project by RUMBA S.r.l., curated by Ortolano del Vintage. It is free for the people who use it and supported by the businesses that host it. Independent project, not affiliated with the City of Pisa.

Ortolano is the local project by RUMBA S.r.l., which also runs Ortolano del Vintage (vintage, Pisa) and Perligio (Pisa). The map is free for the people who use it and is supported by the businesses that host it.