Aqua. The Water Supply and Impact in the Roman Cities of Southern Lazio.

Proceedings of the Conference – Gallicano nel Lazio – 22 November 2013

Volume curated by Massimiliano Valenti

In 2013, in line with the UN declaration designating 2013 as the ‘International Year of Water Cooperation’, the Territorial Museum System Museumgrandtour dedicated ample space to water and water-related topics. With ‘Accadueo. Places, Myths, Forms and Meanings of Water from Antiquity to the Present Day’, a comprehensive cultural programme was organised over twelve months in which conferences, workshops and guided tours addressed the theme from multiple points of view: archaeological, historical, artistic, geological and naturalistic, with forays into Renaissance literature and iconography, and current issues. Each museum belonging to the System participated with proposals that addressed the theme of water with topics pertinent to its own collection or monumental site, thus retracing the history of the territory, while paying particular attention to the role played by water in the development and characterisation of the Castelli Romani and Prenestini. The final appointment of the programme was the conference ‘Aqua. Water supply and impact in the Roman cities of southern Lazio’ held in Gallicano nel Lazio on 22 November 2013. The resulting volume, curated by Massimiliano Valenti and published in 2019, is comprised of the conference proceedings with nine extremely interesting contributions to answer multiple questions, such as “What were the urban water supply systems before the construction of an aqueduct? What happens in a Roman city when running water arrives? How is its urban and architectural layout organised or reorganised? Is there a direct relationship between certain infrastructures, specific monuments and the construction of an aqueduct? Who promotes the construction of an aqueduct within the municipality and for what reasons? What is new in the study of municipal aqueducts?”. The words of the volume’s curator introduce us to the text.