L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 10 L'Italo-Americano LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE W hat would a trip to Rome be without a selfie in front of the Trevi Fountain and the traditional tos- sing of a coin in its light blue waters? Who hasn't stood in awe of our capital's beauty from the Gianicolo, with the mellow song of its Fontanone transforming the moment in pure poetry? And Piazza Navona! The three foun- tains in Piazza Navona, Quattro Fiumi's, Moro's and Nettuno's, three marble and aquamarine jewels that make this corner of Rome even more precious. And of course, how can we speak about Rome and its fonta- ne without spending a word or two about the most common, yet likable of them all, the ubiqui- tous nasoni, yearned, welcomed oasis of relief for every Roman and visitor during the hottest summer days. Rome wouldn't be the same without its fountains, I think we c a n a g r e e o n i t . B u t n e i t h e r would it be without the history behind them and, more precisely, the history of their waters and how they have been flowing with mathematic regularity for centu- ries. Yes, because the history of Rome's beautiful fountains goes hand in hand with that of its aqueducts and leads us all the way back to the old times of the ancient Romans, of their archi- tectural and engineering abilities and tells us how we, people of the 21st century, rely still today on their inventive and intuitions to make of the city that once was the head of the world, a traverti- ne and marble orchestra of fluid, crystal-like arpeggios. Caput mundi, we are! But how do we quench our thirst? Yes, because if it's true that, for centuries, the Tiber had been sufficient to supply water for Rome and its people, with the coming of the 4th century BC, that was no longer an option. It's Sextus Julius Frontinus — engi- neer, politician and author of the 1st century AD — to tell us how Rome, in those years, had been going through a demographic boom that led the city to seek new ways to, quite literally, quench its thirst. And feed its public baths and fountains, of course. This is when aqueducts, immense examples of Roman civil engineering, transformed Rome into the regina aquarum, t h e q u e e n o f w a t e r s , o f t h e Antique world: no other place on Earth had such a large quantity of water at its disposal as Rome did. B u i l d i n g t h e a q u e d u c t s , h o w e v e r , c a m e a f t e r f i n d i n g springs of fresh water able to supply the city and it wasn't something all springs around Rome could do. Their water had to be drinkable, abundant and, of course, constant throughout the year; even more importantly, springs had to be located at a higher altitude that Rome so that the incline could be used to ease the transport of water to the city. To guarantee purity, large decantation chambers, called piscinae limariae were placed at the beginning and at the end of the aqueducts themselves. And did you know that, in spite of how quickly our minds associate the "Roman aqueduct" with majestic constructions à la Pont du Gard, the vast majority of those bringing water to Rome were actually developed under- ground? Above our heads or under our feet, all of Rome's aqueducts ended with what we Italians call a mostra d'acqua, a monumen- tal fountain built to celebrate the arrival of fresh waters within the city's walls. The Romans c a l l e d t h e m m u n e r a , t h a t i s , "gifts," because water was consi- dered a gift the city gave to its citizens. And this is how the ancient aqueducts of Rome meet its famous, majestic Renaissance fountains. The ancient mostre d'acqua and Rome's fountains There is only one, original m o s t r a d ' a c q u a ( l i t e r a l l y , i t means a "showcase of water") still extant in modern Rome, albeit only vestiges of it remains: i t i s t h e M o s t r a d e l l ' A c q u a G i u l i a , i n P i a z z a V i t t o r i o Emanuele's gardens. Its large dimensions hint at the original grandiosity of these construc- tions. This isn't to say, however, t h a t w e d o n ' t k n o w w h e r e m o s t r e d ' a c q u a o n c e s t o o d , because during the Renaissance, as well as the Baroque period, great architects and sculptors like Bernini, Della Porta and the (aptly named) Fontana brothers, created beautiful fountains on the very spot where the ancient originals once stood: and so, we have the mostre d'acqua of the Paola waters, represented by the fountains in Piazza San Pietro in Montorio and Piazza Trilussa, both on the Gianicolo and the o n e o f t h e V e r g i n e N u o v a w a t e r s , r e p r e s e n t e d b y t h e Fontana del Nicchione, encased in the Pincio gardens' walls, near Piazza del Popolo. The most famous of them all, however, are the mostra d'acqua of the Vergine waters and that o f t h e F e l i c e w a t e r s , t h e Fontana di Trevi and Fontana d e l M o s é i n P i a z z a S a n Bernardo respectively. And so, in the Baroque, elegant beauty of these popular symbols of Rome, we find its very history and that of its people, of how its demo- g r a p h i c g r o w t h c r e a t e d t h e necessity to channel waters from the hills around, so that the city Queen of the world could keep being also the regina acquarum. Just like the ancient, original mostre were considered gifts, the beautiful monumental fountains of Rome are often seen as an amazing present the city makes to its people and visitors: a pre- sent made of delicate, liquid notes that create the most elegant o f m u s i c , a p r e s e n t m a d e o f white marble and travertine able to stand time and nature, a pre- sent made of memories so incre- dible we often long to return to the Città Eterna even before lea- ving. That's why we toss those coins in the Fontana di Trevi, in the end. That's what tradition tells us: one coin, to make sure we'll come back. It's our little gift to a city so beautiful it stops our hearts, to waters so placid and ancient they could tell us the history of the world. CHIARA D'ALESSIO Rome, the Tiber, her fountains, her aqueducts: the city wasn't known as "the queen of waters" for nothing (Copyright: Dreamstime) The waters of Rome, between history and magic

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