Helvius fountain and Roman aqueduct in Sant'Egidio del Monte Albino in the District of Salerno

The aim of this paper is to describe the peculiarities of a Roman aqueduct realized with the technique of the gallery in rock as well as a public fountain located in SantEgidio del Monte Albino, in Southern Italy. The Roman aqueduct is composed of one principal branch and three minus lateral branches. The principal branch 345.61 m in length, with a total drop of 22.9 m. While 21.25%, 0.87% and 6.73% are the maximum, minimum and average slope, respectively. The gallery does not have an uniform cross section along its length. There are also four different kinds of roof: vaulted roof, flat roof, gabled roof and uncovered roof. The Roman aqueduct is still in use and continues to supply the Helvius fountain with spring water, which is a document of great interest for the history of the river Sarno. The simultaneous presence on the fountain of two river divinities as well as Poseidon near the river mouth was designed to symbolize the river along its path. The Helvius fountain is different from the public fountains in Pompeii because it was realized from a single block of white marble.

G. De Feo*, S. De Gisi*, C. Malvano*, A. Tortora**, S. Del Prete***, F. Maurano****, E. Tropeano****

* Department of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, via Ponte don Melillo,1 84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy, g.defeo@unisa.it
** Pro Loco di SantEgidio del Monte Albino, via Tenente Innocenzo Ferraioli, 148 - 84010 SantEgidio del Monte Albino (SA), Italy
*** Federazione Speleologica Campana, via G. Papini, 3 - 80046 San Giorgio a Cremano (NA), Italy
**** Gruppo Speleologico Natura Esplora, via Reanni, 3 - 83010 Summonte (AV), Italy

IWA Specialty Conference:
2nd International Symposium on
Water and Wastewater
Technologies
in Ancient Civilizations
May 28th, 29th, 30th, Bari Italy 2009

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Giovanni De Feo
• Roman fountain
• Roman aqueduct
• Ancient civilizations