As the great scholar Thomas Ashby (1892-1925) called them, they traverse the Tiburtine landscape as the predominant subjects of works of art known throughout the world.
In the Tiburtine territory, between Tivoli and Castel Madama, converge the four aqueducts coming from the Aniene valley, so-called “aniensi”, built between the 3rd century B.C. and the 1st century A.D.(Anio vetus 272-270 B.C., Aqua Marcia 144-140 B.C., Aqua Claudia and Anio novus 30-52 A.D.), whose ruins are comparable in monumentality only to those visible in the Tor Fiscale locality in Rome.
The second Roman aqueduct, after the Appian Aqueduct, built in the 3rd century B.C., was 43 miles (63.5 km) long and traveled largely beneath the surface, collecting water at the XXIX mile of the Via Tiburtina Valeria (in the stretch of river below the Franciscan Friars’ convent of San Cosimato) and reaching Rome in the area known as “ad spem veterem,” ending at the Porta Maggiore.
It was named “old” only when the parallel Anio Novus was built centuries later. It was restored several times: by Q. Marcius Rex in 144 B.C. on the occasion of the connection of the Aqua Marcia, by Agrippa in 33 B.C., and by Augustus in 11-4 B.C., who had the course marked with numbered stones.
This water was brought to Rome, due to population growth, in 144 – 140 B.C. by Q. Marcius Rex.
It was of excellent quality and was celerated by Pliny the Elder as the most famous in the world, a gift of the gods to the Urbe.
It was to be ca. 51 miles long and was marked, in the Augustan restoration, by numbered cippus entirely identical to those of the Anio Vetus.
Skirting the left bank of the Aniene as far as Castel Madama, the Aqua Marcia crossed the Fosso di Empiglione agli Arci with a bridge and then bent toward Tivoli, yielding some of its water to the city.
From here it headed toward Gallicano in Lazio, ascending the deep valleys of the area across bridges.
The imposing arches of the Anio Novus Aqueduct, begun by Emperor Caligula in 38 AD, finished by Claudius in 52 and subsequently restored several times, still characterize the Tiburtine landscape of the “Valley of the Aqueducts,” in the area significantly named “Arci.”
It derived water from the Aniene and was called “new” to distinguish it from theAnio vetus.
It had its beginning at the 42nd mile of the Via Sublacense, between the Simbruini Mountains, where, flowing the muddy river, it required a settling pool.
At the 38th mile it received the very pureHerculanea spring(rivus Herculaneus), but as it reached Rome equally turbid in the rainy season, Trajan in 98 AD raised the catchment (incile) again, connecting to the lake located above Nero’s villa at Subiaco, where the Aniene decanted.
At Castel Madama, it splits into two branches: one runs in the direction of Tivoli (“Ponte dell’Osteriola”), while the other veers south, bypassing the street and the nearby Empiglione ditch until it enters under Castello hill.
The Aqueduct was started by Emperor Caligula in 38 AD and finished by Claudius in 52.
Captured excellent springs on the Via Sublacense (near Agosta – Marano).
According to Frontinus, the “most magnificent” aqueduct was 46 miles long. Restorations were made in the second half of the 1st century by Emperors Vespasian and Titus, but numerous others followed until the 4th century.
The course is basically that of the March, so several bridges are preserved at Castel Madama and Gallicano in Lazio.
The piscina limaria was at the 7th mile of the Via Latina and the last was section incorporated within the Aurelian Walls to Porta Maggiore.
The Claudia received 4607 quinaria (= 191,190 cubic meters in 24 hours) at the incile, of which only 3312 arrived at the pool, due to the subtraction of wealthy owners, in this case of the sumptuous villas between Appia and Latina.
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