The Source of Modern Day Outdoor Fountains

The Source of Modern Day Outdoor Fountains Source Modern Day Outdoor Fountains 6692211167337.jpg

Pope Nicholas V, himself a well educated man, ruled the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of ancient classic Greek texts into Latin. In order to make Rome deserving of being the capital of the Christian world, the Pope decided to enhance the beauty of the city. At the bidding of the Pope, the Aqua Vergine, a damaged aqueduct which had carried clean drinking water into Rome from eight miles away, was restored starting in 1453. The ancient Roman tradition of building an awe-inspiring commemorative fountain at the location where an aqueduct arrived, also known as a mostra, was revived by Nicholas V. At the behest of the Pope, architect Leon Battista Alberti undertook the construction of a wall fountain in the place where we now find the Trevi Fountain. The water which eventually furnished the Trevi Fountain as well as the famed baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona flowed from the modified aqueduct which he had renovated.

Original Water Delivery Techniques in The City Of Rome

Original Water Delivery Techniques in The City Of Rome Rome’s 1st elevated aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was built in 273 BC; prior to that, people living at higher elevations had to depend on local streams for their water. When aqueducts or springs weren’t available, people living at higher elevations turned to water drawn from underground or rainwater, which was made available by wells and cisterns. In the very early sixteenth century, the city began to make use of the water that ran beneath the earth through Acqua Vergine to furnish water to Pincian Hill. Throughout the time of its initial building and construction, pozzi (or manholes) were located at set intervals alongside the aqueduct’s channel. Whilst these manholes were developed to make it less difficult to conserve the aqueduct, it was also feasible to use containers to extract water from the channel, which was utilized by Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi from the time he bought the property in 1543 to his passing in 1552. Reportedly, the rainwater cistern on his property wasn’t good enough to meet his needs. Thankfully, the aqueduct sat under his property, and he had a shaft established to give him accessibility.