Aqueducts: The Answer to Rome's Water Challenges

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Aqueducts: The Answer to Rome's Water Challenges Rome’s first raised aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was built in 273 BC; prior to that, residents living at higher elevations had to rely on natural creeks for their water. Outside of these aqueducts and springs, wells and rainwater-collecting cisterns were the only technologies around at the time to supply water to areas of higher elevation. Starting in the sixteenth century, a new system was introduced, using Acqua Vergine’s subterranean sections to deliver water to Pincian Hill. Pozzi, or manholes, were constructed at standard intervals along the aqueduct’s channel. During the some nine years he owned the residential property, from 1543 to 1552, Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi used these manholes to take water from the network in containers, though they were actually built for the goal of maintaining and servicing the aqueduct. He didn’t get adequate water from the cistern that he had built on his property to collect rainwater. Via an opening to the aqueduct that flowed below his property, he was in a position to reach his water demands.

Bernini: The Master of Italy's Greatest Fountains

Bernini: The Master of Italy's Greatest Fountains Bernini's earliest water fountain, named Barcaccia, is a breath taking work of art seen at the foot of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. Roman locals and site seers who appreciate verbal exchanges as well as being the company of others still go to this spot. The streets surrounding his fountain have come to be one of the city’s most fashionable meeting places, something which would certainly have pleased Bernini himself. The master's first water fountain of his professional life was built at around 1630 at the request of Pope Urbano VIII. The fountain’s central motif is based on a massive ship slowly sinking into the Mediterranean. The great 16th century flood of the Tevere, which left the entire region inundated with water, was memorialized by the water fountain according to documents from the period. In 1665 Bernini traveled to France, in what was to be his sole lengthy absence from Italy.