The aqueducts will be described in the direction opposite to the direction of water flow, i.e. from the city towards the hills. As these areas are not included in the usual tourist maps, you can use the map provided at the end of this article.
The Aqua Felice aqueduct reaches the Porta Maggiore gate by following the Aurelian wall for about 350 meters along via Casilina and crossing the place once called ad Spes Veterem (“by the Old Hope”, i.e. near the temple of Spes Vetus) until the wall makes a right angle turn to the west (point 1 on the map).
At this point, the aqueduct deviates from the original course of the Aqua Claudia and passes through the foundations of the Circus Varianus (highlighted in green on the map), a chariot arena belonging to the Septesodius (imperial residence) built by Septimius Severus. Half a century later, the arena fell into disrepair due to the construction of the Aurelian Wall directly across it. Today there are only minor underground traces of the arena.
After passing along the Circus, the Aqua Felice rejoins the original route of the Aqua Claudia, but here a row of houses hides its arches for about 150 meters. The aqueduct becomes visible again at via Casilina Vecchio (point 2), after which it crosses the railroad tracks three times. Here the large arches built in the early 20th century have replaced several original ones for the passage of trains. The pillars, on the other hand, still retain some features showing their belonging to the Acqua Claudia. Old concrete with irregular stones can also be seen.
After crossing the railroad junction (point 3), the aqueduct can only be seen from its western side, as the other side is on private property.
As soon as Via Casilina Vecchio ends, the pattern changes (point 5). Now along via del Mandrione, the aqueduct can be observed from the eastern side, while the western side is occupied by a long line of private estates using the corresponding side of the Acqua Felice as a boundary wall. This street runs almost in a straight line for about 1600 meters, and one has to be very careful here as there are no footpaths provided and car traffic can be quite fast.
At the very beginning of the Via del Mandrione, at the corner of the Vicolo del Mandrione (point 4), opposite the aqueduct, there is an object that looks like an ordinary wall. However, a closer inspection reveals a texture here with very old bricks, small blocks of tuff and even a few fragments of marble. These are very poorly preserved ruins of the Acqua Martia, which used to run parallel to the Acqua Claudia.
The height of the aqueduct at this site appears much lower due to the elevation of the ground level. Most of the arches here are walled or covered with metal mesh to protect the private properties behind them.
After crossing Via della Marrana, the aqueduct and the road diverge (point 6), becoming separated by a number of more private areas. The Acqua Felice remains in sight, but at a distance.
As soon as the road crosses the station of Casilina, just behind the sports field, the ruins of Aqua Claudia appear next to Aqua Felice (point 7). The latter are noticeably higher and covered with typical large stone blocks. However, it is difficult to see anything because of the fenced private areas between the street and the aqueducts. Here the Aqua Felice begins to converge again with the Via del Mandrione. A few meters further on, at the intersection with via di Porta Furba, several Aqua Martia arches suddenly appear (point 8). However, they are barely visible because of the dense vegetation covering them and because of their location on private land.
From this point the aqueducts follow the Via del Mandrione to its end. The street itself follows exactly the direction of the ancient service passage between Acqua Claudia and Acqua Martia. It is worth mentioning that the not preserved Anio Vetus, a completely underground aqueduct, ran where the railroad line is now.
The Aqua Felice quite suddenly separates from the Aqua Claudia at right angles (point 9) and crosses the modern roadway, following the opposite side of the road where the arches of the Aqua Martia once stood. Accordingly, for about 100 meters, the Acqua Claudia is seen standing alone on the right side of the road. On the left side of the road comes the Acqua Felice, which has almost completely replaced the Acqua Marzia, the rare traces of which in the form of a few blocks of brown stone can be seen only at ground level. Soon Aqua Felice makes a U-turn and rejoins Aqua Claudia (point 10).
At the end of the via del Mandrione, the Acqua Felice again separates from the Acqua Claudia (point 11), keeping parallel to it. At this point, a small part of the Acqua Claudia is missing, and the Acqua Felice crosses the broad via Tuscolana through a special arch that glorifies Pope Sixtus V, who sponsored the construction of the aqueduct. In this way, the pope actually revived an ancient custom that had arisen under the emperors, who built arches at the crossings of important roads by aqueducts.
This arch is better known as Porta Furba, although it never belonged to the city gate. The etymology of this name is not clear. There is a suggestion that it is a corruption of the term forma, with which aqueducts were labeled on several Renaissance maps. Another guess is the origin of the name from the Latin word fur (thief), due to the robbers who once plundered the area.
aqua felice
The ancient arch that crossed the Via Tuscolana with the Aqua Claudia aqueduct has unfortunately not survived. According to historical sources, it was made of white travertine. It is not by chance that the local road and the nearest metro station are called Arco di Travertino (travertine arch).
Another interesting object near this section of the aqueducts is a fountain (Fontana del Mandrione) with a grotesque face with bat wings, pouring Aqua Felice water into a small pool. It is one of three fountains installed by Pope Sixtus V where his aqueduct crossed busy roads. The other two stood on the Via Cassilina (at Porta Maggiore) and Via Tiburtina (at Porta Tiburtina) as a kind of refreshing welcome to travelers entering Rome.
Of the three, only the fountain on the Via Tuscolana, once known colloquially as the “pretty fountain,” has survived. But even it is not entirely original. Two centuries after its construction, its condition deteriorated, and in 1723 Pope Clement XII not only restored but also enlarged the fountain, which can be read on its front part. Since then, people have been calling it the Clement XII Fountain.
Just beyond Porta Furba, another row of remains of the Aquae Claudia stretches for about 150 meters. Its arches here are almost completely bricked up, and the structure looks more like a wall than an aqueduct. This is probably the result of restoration work from the late Empire (300s-500s), in which bricks were used to support pillars that had become unstable.
Over a thousand years later, in the late 16th century, the architects who built the Acqua Felice completely removed what was left of the Acqua Claudia, retaining only the additional brick structures. Therefore, what we see now is actually a “footprint” of the original structure, with the pillars and arches missing.
Not far from here, an additional branch called the Aqua Martia was separated from the Aqua Martia by the Aqua Antoniniana, built in the early 3rd century to supply water to the famous public baths known as the Thermae of Caracalla. One of the few surviving fragments of this branch is the so-called Arch of Drusa, located before the beginning of the Via Appia Antica.
As the ruins of the Acqua Claudia fall away, the Acqua Felice crosses the modern roadway again (point 12) and runs along one side of the vicolo del Acquedotto Felice, a long narrow road running parallel to the aqueduct. After about 250 meters, this road ends up in a public park where it turns into a path (point 13). In places, opposite the Acqua Felice, you can see through the trees the isolated, but still impressive, remains of the Acqua Claudia.
Where the path reaches the crossroads, a row of heavily restored arches of the ancient aqueduct can be seen on the right. The deep rectangular impressions along the pillars are traces left by large stones taken away at various times for other structures, including the neighboring Aqua Felice. The path then becomes quite narrow and after 150 meters it reaches the medieval tower of Torre Fiscale, formerly called Torre Branca.
The tower was built at the intersection of the Aquae Claudia and Aquae Martia aqueducts, where they changed places because of the landscape and the need to keep their tunnels at a certain height. After about 200 meters, these aqueducts crossed again (point 14), eventually forming a closed trapezoidal area. The Ostrogoths, led by Vitigis, who besieged Rome between 537 and 538, reinforced the arches in this area, turning it into one of their several camps, cutting off the city from food supplies.
For this reason, the land between Porta Furba and Torre Fiscale was later named Campus Barbaricus (barbarian field). An account of the siege was left by the historian Procopius of Caesarea, who witnessed the events. Traces of two ancient aqueducts can be found on the lower part of the tower. Not much remains of the Aqua Martia, but one of the arches of the Aqua Claudia can be seen very well on the north side, and its water tunnel can be seen on the west side. Here too, but higher up, was the tunnel of the Anio Novus, now laid down. The Aqua Martia has been completely replaced by the Aqua Felice, which runs right through the base of the tower.
With the beginning of the summer solstice, the plague attacked the inhabitants of the city along with hunger. The soldiers still had bread, but of the rest of the food there was nothing left, and other Romans had no bread, and they were severely tormented along with the pestilence and hunger. When this was recognized by the Goths, they no longer wanted to enter into open battle with their enemies, but in every way beware, as if they had not been brought to them and the contagion. Between the Latin and Appian roads and still today there are two very high aqueducts, rising high on arches. Both of these aqueducts, in an area fifty stages distant from Rome, converge and for some space go in the opposite direction. The one which formerly went to the right now goes to the left. Having come together again and having received the former direction, in the future they forever diverge in different directions. Therefore, the place between these aqueducts forms a kind of fortification. The lower part of the arches of these aqueducts barbarians laid stones and clay and made here a kind of fortress and placed here a detachment of no less than seven thousand people to protect that the enemies in no case could not bring to themselves in the city of any food. Then the Romans lost all hope for a good outcome, and they were seized with every thought of disaster.
Procopius of Caesarea. The war with the Goths. On buildings. Book II, Chapter 3 (translated by S. Kondratyev)
At Torre Fiscalle the path (still officially called Vicolo del Acquedotto Felice) ends. In order to go further, you have to choose one of two directions. The first (purple line on the map) is shorter and more beautiful in terms of views, but crosses a series of isolated areas without electric lights. The second (pink line on the map) is an alternative, which is always good to have.
Both directions converge on via del Quadraro, from where a path leads to the Aqueduct Park and you can continue exploring the Aqua Felice and parts of the preserved Aqua Claudia, following the numerous paths both next to the aqueducts and parallel to them, at some distance.
