Aqua Alexandrina - Technical Details

Technical Details

The Aqua Alexandrina received its water from the Pantano Borghese swamp near the city of Gabii, now a part of Monte Compatri. The same spring has supplied the still working Acqua Felice since 1586. The first 6,4 km of the total 22,4 km were tunneled underground, later run on the surface, and 2,4 km was carried on brick arches traversing the valleys of the Roman Campagna. Its last section towards and inside the city remains uncertain (the urban parts are uncovered), but supposedly the aqueduct entered the city at Porta Maggiore and ended on the Campus Martius at the Thermae of Alexander, between the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona. Depending on the season, the aqueduct supplied 120.000 to 320.000 cubic meter of water per day.

The arches of the aqueduct are made of concrete with brick coating. There are four small travertine brackets at the top of each pillar whose function remains unknown.

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