Hydraulic works: the Map of the Ancient Underground Aqueducts

Among the many different typologies of artificial caves, hydraulic works deserve a particular attention, being strongly related to past history and civilization. Without the availability of water, development of settlements and villages, and establishment of a geographically stable inhabited area were not possible. Starting from these considerations, in 2003 the Commission on Artificial Cavities of the Italian Speleological Society started the Project “The Map of Ancient Underground Aqueducts in Italy”. Italy presents on its territory a huge amount of hydraulic works, showing very long underground stretches, that represent a valuable documentation of the skill and engineering techniques of the ancient communities. Due to their mostly underground development, they have often been preserved intact for millennia. During these years of work, we have been able to collect a great amount of material and information about underground aqueducts, through both direct caving explorations and analysis of the available documentation; a detailed register of ancient underground aqueducts in Italy has been thus realized, aimed at safeguarding these unique works of historical and hydraulic engineering importance. So far, more than 140 underground aqueducts, distributed all over the Italian territory, have been identified and studied. In addition to aqueducts, other hydraulic works have also been studied within the project framework: namely, underground drainage tunnel realized for land reclamation purposes and/or for agricultural practices. The Project has been advertised through presentations at several Italian and international conferences, and with a number of publications, including special issues of the journal Opera Ipogea, entirely dedicated to the project (in 2007 and 2012). A detailed bibliography has been built, with reference to underground hydraulic works in Italy, and is being continuously updated. The bibliographic list is subdivided on a regional basis, and, within each region, is in turn divided for each single hydraulic work.