Acquedotto di Via Turati

The aqueduct, which comes from the Porta Tiburtina area, heads towards the area of ​​Piazza Vittorio and the so-called The Trophies of Marius.

Present on the straight line of via Turati up to Piazza Pepe, the remains, made up of six arches, belong to an ancient aqueduct built - or rebuilt - at the beginning of the 3rd century AD. with the aim of supplying the large fountain that the emperor Alexander Severus had built in the area between via Tiburtina and via Prenestina, in the external vicinity of the Porta Esquilina.

The arches are made of brick and were probably placed, as it seems from comparison with ancient drawings of the area, on another order of arches that allowed the narrow valley present in this area to be crossed. Traditionally this branch is traced back to the Aqua Iulia, although recent research has led scholars to hypothesize that the supply came instead from another aqueduct, present at a higher altitude, and referable to the Aqua Claudia or the Anio Novus, both present in the area of ​​the adjacent Porta Maggiore.

Photo credits: courtesy of Capitoline Superintendency