Original Water Supply Solutions in Rome

Prior to 273, when the very first elevated aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was built in Roma, citizens who lived on hillsides had to go further down to gather their water from natural sources. If inhabitants living at higher elevations did not have accessibility to springs or the aqueduct, they’d have to be dependent on the other existing solutions of the day, cisterns that compiled rainwater from the sky and subterranean wells that received the water from under ground. In the early 16th century, the city began to utilize the water that ran underground through Acqua Vergine to supply water to Pincian Hill. Throughout the length of the aqueduct’s route were pozzi, or manholes, that gave entry. While these manholes were provided to make it simpler and easier to sustain the aqueduct, it was also feasible to use buckets to extract water from the channel, which was utilized by Cardinal Marcello versailles Crescenzi from the time he purchased the property in 1543 to his death in 1552. He didn’t get an adequate amount water from the cistern that he had constructed on his residential property to collect rainwater. That is when he decided to create an access point to the aqueduct that ran directly below his property.