Aqueducts: The Remedy to Rome's Water Troubles

Aqueducts: The Remedy to Rome's Water Troubles Aqua Anio Vetus, the first raised aqueduct assembled in Rome, started supplying the men and women living in the hills with water in 273 BC, though they had depended on natural springs up until then. If inhabitants living at higher elevations did not have accessibility to springs or the aqueduct, they’d have to depend on the remaining existing solutions of the day, cisterns that gathered rainwater from the sky and subterranean wells that received the water from below ground. Beginning in the sixteenth century, a brand new strategy was introduced, using Acqua Vergine’s subterranean segments to deliver water to Pincian Hill. The aqueduct’s channel was made available by pozzi, or manholes, that were added along its length when it was first designed. Aqueducts: Remedy Rome's Water Troubles 9138864933032728479.jpg

Aqueducts: Remedy Rome's Water Troubles 9138864933032728479.jpg

While these manholes were provided to make it much easier to conserve the aqueduct, it was also possible to use buckets to extract water from the channel, which was exercised by Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi from the time he bought the property in 1543 to his passing in 1552. Even though the cardinal also had a cistern to collect rainwater, it didn’t produce sufficient water. That is when he decided to create an access point to the aqueduct that ran underneath his residential property.

A Brief History of the Early Water Fountains

A Brief History of the Early Water Fountains Villages and villages relied on working water fountains to channel water for preparing food, bathing, and cleaning up from nearby sources like ponds, streams, or creeks. In the days before electrical power, the spray of fountains was driven by gravity only, often using an aqueduct or water supply located far away in the surrounding mountains. Frequently used as memorials and commemorative structures, water fountains have impressed people from all over the world all through the centuries. If you saw the first fountains, you probably would not recognize them as fountains. The first known water fountain was a natural stone basin created that was used as a container for drinking water and ceremonial functions. Rock basins are believed to have been first used around 2000 BC. Early fountains put to use in ancient civilizations relied on gravity to regulate the circulation of water through the fountain. The placement of the fountains was influenced by the water source, which is why you’ll usually find them along aqueducts, canals, or rivers. The people of Rome began building elaborate fountains in 6 B.C., most of which were bronze or natural stone masks of wildlife and mythological characters. Water for the public fountains of Rome was delivered to the city via a complex system of water aqueducts.