Buongiorno Dear Traveler!
Today we want to take you back in time, and come to celebrate with us the opening of the modern aqueduct in Venice! It is the evening of June 23, 1884, when, after four years of hard work, the aqueduct of Venice was inaugurated! For the occasion St. Mark’s Square has been floodlit and a fountain has been set up in the shadow of the bell tower: the water gushing out of it was the one coming from the aqueduct.
The fresh water runs on cast iron laying under the lagoon from springs identified in the area of Sant’Ambrogio (In Trebaseleghe, Padua) that are the same aquifers that still supply the taps of Venice today.
If you carefully look at the floor you can actually recognize where the pipe has been placed, under the gray slabs that run diagonally along the campo! Did we make you curious enough? Do you know that exists also a museum at the Veritas headquarters in St. Andrew’s (behind Piazzale Roma), where the Aqueduct Museum is located. It is a facility, associated with UNESCO’s World Network of Water Museums, which displays photos, documents, tools and engines that tell you the history of water supply in the Lagoon, starting from the founding of Venice to the present day.
Before leaving you, let’s look at a few figures together: the amount of water available per person in the XVI century was around 5-5.5 liters a day; two hundred years later, the figure had risen to 6.8. Today the aqueduct brings around 300-350 liters a day per person – it is impossible to go backwards and nobody wants to, but maybe we should cut back a little…wouldn’t you agree? (send us a message!)
