Acqua Vergine

Last updated
The still-functioning entrance to the inspection duct of the Acqua Vergine, at Via del Nazareno. Colonna - ingresso acquedotto Acqua Vergine a via del Nazzareno 1611.JPG
The still-functioning entrance to the inspection duct of the Acqua Vergine, at Via del Nazareno.

The Acqua Vergine is one of several Roman aqueducts that deliver pure drinking water to Rome. Its name derives from its predecessor Aqua Virgo, which was constructed by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in 19 BC. Its terminal castellum is located at the Baths of Agrippa, and it served the vicinity of Campus Martius through its various conduits. 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.

Contents

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 emerge:

Termini

Today, as in days of old, the Acqua Vergine is regarded as furnishing 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:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevi Fountain</span> Fountain in Rome, Italy

The Trevi Fountain is an 18th-century fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, Italy, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini in 1762 and several others. Standing 26.3 metres (86 ft) high and 49.15 metres (161.3 ft) wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish Steps</span> Stairs in Rome, Italy

The Spanish Steps in Rome, Italy, climb a steep slope between Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church, at the top.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campo Marzio</span> Rione of Rome in Lazio, Italy

Campo Marzio is the 4th rione of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. IV. It belongs to the Municipio I and covers a smaller section of the area of the ancient Campus Martius. The logo of this rione is a silver crescent on a blue background.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giacomo della Porta</span> Italian architect (1532–1602)

Giacomo della Porta (1532–1602) was an Italian architect and sculptor, who worked on many important buildings in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aqua Virgo</span> Ancient Roman aqueduct in Italy

The Aqua Virgo was one of the eleven Roman aqueducts that supplied the city of ancient Rome. It was completed in 19 BC by Marcus Agrippa, during the reign of the emperor Augustus and was built mainly to supply the contemporaneous Baths of Agrippa in the Campus Martius.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piazza del Popolo</span> Urban square in Rome

Piazza del Popolo is a large urban square in Rome. The name in modern Italian literally means "People's Square", but historically it derives from the poplars after which the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in the northeast corner of the piazza, takes its name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giuseppe Valadier</span>

Giuseppe Valadier was an Italian architect and designer, urban planner and archaeologist and a chief exponent of Neoclassicism in Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Via Margutta</span> Street in Rome, Italy

Via Margutta is a narrow street in the centre of Rome, near Piazza del Popolo, accessible from Via del Babuino in the ancient Campo Marzio neighborhood also known as "the foreigner's quarter". Mount Pincio is nearby. Via Margutta originally was home to modest craftsmen, workshops and stables, but now hosts many art galleries and fashionable restaurants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acqua Felice</span> 16th century Roman aqueduct

The Acqua Felice is one of the aqueducts of Rome, completed in 1586 by Pope Sixtus V, whose birth name, which he never fully abandoned, was Felice Peretti. The first new aqueduct of early modern Rome, its source is at the springs at Pantano Borghese, off Via Casilina. Its length is fifteen miles (24 km), running underground for eight miles (13 km) from its source, first in the channel of Aqua Alexandrina, then alternating on the arches of the Aqua Claudia and the Aqua Marcia for seven miles (11 km) to its terminus at the Fontana dell'Acqua Felice on the Quirinal Hill, standing to one side of the Strada Pia, so as to form a piazza in this still new part of Rome. The engineer was Giovanni Fontana, brother of Sixtus' engineer-architect Domenico Fontana, who recorded that the very day the new pope entered the Lateran, he decided that he would bring water once again to the hills of Rome, which had remained waterless and sparsely inhabited, largely by monasteries, since the original ancient aqueducts had been destroyed in the sixth century. From the source, which Sixtus purchased, there was only a very small fall, and the work required an underground conduit as well as an aqueduct carried on arches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fontana di Piazza Colonna</span>

The fountain in the Piazza Colonna is a fountain in Rome, Italy, designed by the architect Giacomo Della Porta and constructed by the Fiesole sculptor Rocco Rossi between 1575 and 1577.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flaminio – Piazza del Popolo (Rome Metro)</span> Rome metro station

Flaminio–Piazza del Popolo is an underground station on Line A of the Rome Metro, inaugurated in 1980. The station is situated on the large Piazzale Flaminio, in the Flaminio quarter outside the Aurelian Walls, next to Piazza del Popolo, and is near the Campus Martius.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spagna (Rome Metro)</span> Rome metro station

Spagna is an underground station on Line A of the Rome Metro, in the rione Campo Marzio, which was inaugurated in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Via del Babuino</span>

Via del Babuino is a street in the historic centre of Rome (Italy), located in the rione Campo Marzio. It connects Piazza del Popolo to Piazza di Spagna and is part of the complex of streets known as Tridente.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fontana delle Tartarughe</span> Fountain in Rome, Italy

The Fontana delle Tartarughe is a fountain of the late Italian Renaissance, located in Piazza Mattei, in the Sant'Angelo district of Rome, Italy. It was built between 1580 and 1588 by the architect Giacomo della Porta and the sculptor Taddeo Landini. The bronze turtles around the upper basin, usually attributed either to Gian Lorenzo Bernini or Andrea Sacchi, were added in either 1658 or 1659 when the fountain was restored.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fontana dell'Acqua Felice</span> Roman monumental fountain

The Fontana dell'Acqua Felice, also called the Fountain of Moses, is a monumental fountain located in the Quirinale District of Rome, Italy. It marked the terminus of the Acqua Felice aqueduct restored by Pope Sixtus V. It was designed by Domenico Fontana and built in 1585–1588. It is located at the intersection of Largo Santa Susanna and Via Venti Settembre; across and diagonal from the Largo, is the church of Santa Susanna, while across Via Venti Settembre is the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fontana del Nettuno, Piazza del Popolo</span>

The Fontana del Nettuno is a monumental fountain located in the Piazza del Popolo in Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piazza della Rotonda</span> Square in Rome

The Piazza della Rotonda is a piazza in Rome, Italy, on the south side of which is located the Pantheon. The square gets its name from the Pantheon's informal title as the church of Santa Maria Rotonda.

Acqua may refer to:

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.