Acqua Vergine

The still-functioning entrance to the inspection duct of the Acqua Vergine, at Via del Nazareno.

Acqua Vergine is one of the several aqueducts that serve the city of Rome, in Italy, with pure drinking water. The name derives from the name of its predecessor, Aqua Virgo, which was constructed by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in 19 BC, terminating at its castellum at the Baths of Agrippa, and, through a network of conduits, serving the vicinity in the Campus Martius. In an effort to restore fresh water to Rome during the Renaissance, Pope Nicholas V, in 1453, renovated the main channels of the Aqua Virgo[1] and added numerous secondary conduits under Campo Marzio. The original terminus, called a mostra, which means showpiece, was the stately, dignified wall fountain designed by Leon-Battista Alberti[1][2] in Piazza dei Crociferi. Due to several additions and modifications to the end-most points of the conduits during the years that followed, during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, the Acqua Vergine culminated in several magnificent mostre - the Trevi Fountain[1] and the fountains of Piazza del Popolo.

Courses

Beginning as rainwater falling on the Alban Hills to the east of Rome, then percolating through miles of volcanic tuff, the water springs forth in marshland approximately eight miles to the east of Rome off Via Collatina, in a small town called Salone. From the same source, but running different courses, two separate aqueducts, in fact, emerge:

Termini

Today, as in days of old, the Acqua Vergine is regarded to furnish some of the purest drinking-water in Rome, reputed for its restorative qualities. Many people to this day can be seen filling containers for drinking and cooking in its splendid fountains, including:

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gross, Hanns (1990). Rome in the Age of Enlightenment: the Post-Tridentine syndrome and the ancien regime. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-521-37211-9.
  2. Tavernor, Robert (1998). On Alberti and the art of building. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 15. ISBN 0-300-07615-0.

External links

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