The Aqueducts

Perhaps my favorite thing about Roman history is the acquaducts.  It seems like a simple and even boring thing--the transportation of water--but it is largely because of this inflow of fresh water that the Republic and Empire were able to thrive.  When Alaric I and the Visigoths sacked the ancient city in the 400s they destroyed many of the standing acquaducts and subsequently crippled much of the city, leading to the Fall of Rome.  This destruction (and many other events) led to a vastly reduced Medieval population that had to cling to the shores of the Tiber River for a source of fresh water.  It was not until the late Renaissance (so the late 1500s, more than a thousand years later) when Popes Gregory XIII (my guy!) and his successor Sixtus V restored some of the damage and opened new waterways that the populace of Rome was once again able to spread out and occupy areas that had been abandoned in the Middle Ages.

Anyway, as water plays such an important role in the history of Rome I was very excited to see these ruins in person.  The Parco degli Acquedotti is just a short metro ride outside the center, and since it is not super popular with tourists it is often empty, save for the occasional Roman jogger.

First glimpse of a still-standing arch

To give you a sense of scale, I'm standing between the middle arch

With Nick, doing a dance of some kind while I take photos

I love this.  It shows the interior passageways through which the water traveled.

A partially underground acquaduct

There were also several tombs in the area.  We tried a self-timer photo, but there was no way I was able to make it up the mound in time to join Nick and Jasmine.