Buongiorno Dear Traveler!
Today we are taking you on a marvelous journey in the underground of Venice. Thanks to
our AR experience you will be able to enter one of those small little holes in the middle of the
white slab you just framed: the so-called pilella! You will become one of the many water
drops that entered through there during the centuries..and you will discover how the wells in
Venice were working, hiding underneath a cistern that was collecting and conserving
invaluable rainwater.
Let’s now discover how these cisterns were built: a hole that was around 3.5 meters deep
was dug. The hole was then lined with clay to waterproof it and a thick round stone slab was
placed in the center; the circular pipe of the cistern rested on this and was made with special
bricks that were roundish in shape and called “pozzalli”. When it reached the pavement the
pipe was crowned by a well-head, usually in Istrian Stone (have you already discovered the
“vera da pozzo”?). The previously dug hole was then filled with sand which acted as a filter,
the so-called spongia. In the upper part a sort of brick gallery was built, called a “cassone”,
where most of the rainwater was collected via the so-called “pilella” placed in the four
corners of the paving around the cistern (can you find the other pilella around you?)
The rainwater would have been then channeled down to fill the “cassone”. The rainwater
trickled down slowly through the filter, or sponge, depositing any impurities on the way. The
well was at the end closed with an iron cover, sometimes locked, and opened just twice a
day. Ingenious these Venetians! Wouldn’t you say?
