Rambles in Rome / An Archæological and Historical Guide to the Museums, Galleries, Villas, Churches, and Antiquities of Rome and the Campagna

by S. Russell Forbes

FIRST EXCURSION.

VIA APPIA NOVA.

This road was made in the time of the Antonines, to relieve the traffic on the Via Appia, and was called simply a New Way. Several tombs of the time of the Antonines line it, but none of earlier date. At the right of the gate is the ancient Porta Asinara, the best preserved of the brick gates. At the second mile the road is crossed by the Via Latina, turning up which, on the left, we can visit

THE PAINTED TOMBS.

One, discovered in 1859, is covered with beautiful paintings and stucco reliefs—eight landscapes, with groups of men and animals, with small arabesque borders, beautifully finished. The reliefs on the vault represent the Trojan War, and figures of Hercules, Chitaredes, Jupiter, with the eagle and centaurs hunting lions, &c.

Near by, discovered at the same time, is

THE BASILICA OF S. STEPHEN,

founded about A.D. 450 by Demetria, a member of the Anician family. It was rebuilt by Leo III., A.D. 800. A bell tower was erected by Lupus Grigarius about thirty years afterwards. The ground plan can be easily made out, as also the remains of the altar and baptistery. In front of the tribune is a vault, entered by stairs, similar to those in most of the Roman Catholic basilicæ, where the martyrs were buried. The basilica stands amidst the ruins of a large Roman villa of the Servilii and Asinii, discovered by Signor Fortunati.

Returning to the main road, we soon pass the Tor Fiscali, a medieval tower, and then the Osteria Tovolato; then we get some fine views of the ruined aqueducts.

THE AQUEDUCTS.

CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT.
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Sixteen aqueducts supplied the city with water and irrigated the Campagna. The principal streams were the Aqua Appia, B.C. 312; Anio Vetus, B.C. 272; Marcia, B.C. 145,—on the top of its arches, near Rome, were carried the Aquæ Tepula and Julia; Virgo, B.C. 21; Claudia, with Anio Novus above, A.D. 38–52. The Romans, finding the water from the Tiber and the wells sunk in the city unwholesome, built these aqueducts, to bring the water from the hills that surround the Campagna; but their situation and purpose rendered them exposed to attack during war, which partly accounts for their destruction. Four of them still supply the city with water:—The Aqua Marcia, which has its source near Subiaco. From Tivoli it passes through pipes to Rome, which it enters at the Porta Pia. It was brought in by a company, and opened by Pius IX. on the 10th of September 1870. The Aqua Virgo, built by Agrippa, B.C. 21, has its source near the eighth milestone on the Via Collatina, restored by Nicholas V. It supplies the Trevi Fountain. The Aqua Alseatina, built by Augustus, A.D. 10, on the other side of the Tiber, has its source thirty-five miles from Rome, at the Lago Baccano. It was restored by Paul V., and supplies the Pauline Fountain. Acqua Felice, made by Sixtus V., A.D. 1587. Its source is near La Colonna, formerly the source of Hadrian's Aqueduct. It runs parallel with the Claudian and the Marcian, near Rome, in some places being built out of their remains and on their piers. Pliny says: "If any one will diligently estimate the abundance of water supplied to the public baths, fountains, fish-ponds, artificial lakes, and galley-fights, to pleasure-gardens, and to almost every private house in Rome, and then consider the difficulties that were to be surmounted, and the distance from which these streams were brought, he will confess that nothing so wonderful as these aqueducts can be found in the whole world."