The Acqua Paola: Roman Remains in a Baroque Landscape
Title
Subject
Description
Overlooking a beautiful view of Rome, the Acqua Paola is an imposing structure that dominates the hillside between San Pietro in Montorio and the Piazza Garibaldi. But this fountain sits on top of the remnants of a long history of Roman waterways. The fountain began as the Aqueduct of Trajan, and still uses its water supply. However, none of the original aqueduct is visible now, as this Baroque masterpiece (or monstrosity) completely erased evidence of the underlying structure. It was constructed in honor of Pope Paul V in 1612, using columns from Old St. Peter’s and marble from the Forum of Nerva.
But the history of the water running through the fountain began much earlier. In the sixth century, Belisarius “repaired the aqueducts at the top of the Gianicolo...to have the water drive the mills on the slope of the hill” (Krautheimer). Pope Honorius followed suit in the early seventh century, regularizing the restorations of the aqueduct that made it more useful for the changing city. The Lombard siege in 756 caused massive damage to the city’s four major aqueducts (the Claudio-Anio Novus, Traiana, Jovia, and Virgo), and Pope Hadrian I worked at the end of that century to repair them. Archaeological evidence of massive reconstructions to the city’s aqueducts in the eighth and ninth centuries shows that huge sections of the aqueducts were completely rebuilt “up to a height of 20m, and for a distance of many kilometers” (Coates-Stephens 177).
In the ninth century, Trajan’s aqueduct was the primary water supply for much of Trastevere and the Vatican. In the medieval period, and especially when the papacy moved to Avignon and ceased major construction works in Rome, the aqueducts fell out of use and into disrepair. The aqueducts were gradually phased out of use and replaced by water mills in the Tiber, which explains why Trajan’s Aqueduct has survived only as an underground channel covered by Pope Paul V’s passion project - the Acqua Paola.
Abstract
Creator
Source
Coates-Stephens, Robert. “The Walls and Aqueducts of the Early Middle Ages, AD 500-1000.” The Journal of Roman Studies 88 (1998): 166-178.
Krautheimer, Richard. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Identifier
Spatial Coverage
Description
Overlooking a beautiful view of Rome, the Acqua Paola is an imposing structure that dominates the hillside between San Pietro in Montorio and the Piazza Garibaldi. But this fountain sits on top of the remnants of a long history of Roman waterways. The fountain began as the Aqueduct of Trajan, and still uses its water supply. However, none of the original aqueduct is visible now, as this Baroque masterpiece (or monstrosity) completely erased evidence of the underlying structure. It was constructed in honor of Pope Paul V in 1612, using columns from Old St. Peter’s and marble from the Forum of Nerva.
But the history of the water running through the fountain began much earlier. In the sixth century, Belisarius “repaired the aqueducts at the top of the Gianicolo...to have the water drive the mills on the slope of the hill” (Krautheimer). Pope Honorius followed suit in the early seventh century, regularizing the restorations of the aqueduct that made it more useful for the changing city. The Lombard siege in 756 caused massive damage to the city’s four major aqueducts (the Claudio-Anio Novus, Traiana, Jovia, and Virgo), and Pope Hadrian I worked at the end of that century to repair them. Archaeological evidence of massive reconstructions to the city’s aqueducts in the eighth and ninth centuries shows that huge sections of the aqueducts were completely rebuilt “up to a height of 20m, and for a distance of many kilometers” (Coates-Stephens 177).
In the ninth century, Trajan’s aqueduct was the primary water supply for much of Trastevere and the Vatican. In the medieval period, and especially when the papacy moved to Avignon and ceased major construction works in Rome, the aqueducts fell out of use and into disrepair. The aqueducts were gradually phased out of use and replaced by water mills in the Tiber, which explains why Trajan’s Aqueduct has survived only as an underground channel covered by Pope Paul V’s passion project - the Acqua Paola.
Creator
Nora Katz (2016)Source
Coates-Stephens, Robert. “The Walls and Aqueducts of the Early Middle Ages, AD 500-1000.” The Journal of Roman Studies 88 (1998): 166-178.
Krautheimer, Richard. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.