The Park of Aqueducts
Nestled between the neighborhoods of Cinecittà , Appius Claudius and the Fourth Mile (on the Via Appia Nuova), and crossed by the Via Latina, the Parco degli Acquedotti area is what remains of a portion of the Roman countryside, once connected the Alban Hills to the city gates. There is a green lung with the ruins of the imposing arches of the remainder of the water distribution system, which included 11 aqueducts (6 of them passed in this area) and carrying water to the fountains and public baths that the city was equipped, and of which the Roman engineers were justifiably proud. The aqueducts remained in operation continuously for 850 years, until they were cut during the Gothic War (in 537 A.D.) and became silent witnesses of the greatness of Rome and then obligatory stop on the Grand Tour that European intellectuals were in Italy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. To get an idea of the magnitude of the work accomplished by the ancient Romans, just think that the sixth century and over a thousand years to their needs Rome used the unhealthy waters of the Tiber, and only at the end of the sixteenth century, Pope Sixtus V build a new aqueduct.
Details
1,5 hours
Walking Tour
