Aqueduct of Ferrara
Situated near the city's defensive walls and its promenade, Ferrara's Acquedotto Monumentale (monumental aqueduct) is located within the Rione Giardino district. Constructed between 1930 and 1932, this reservoir is part of the network of hydraulic structures built to bring water to the city, some of them embellished with various decorations that have turned them into real monuments worthy of a visit.
Although it has no longer been connected to the main aqueduct since the 1980s and has therefore ceased its activities, in recent times the Acquedotto Monumentale has undergone a redevelopment of its interior spaces and now hosts a series of activities and events.
The decoration of the Acquedotto Monumentale
Designed by municipal engineer
Carlo Savonuzzi, who also worked on the construction of the Paolo Mazza Stadium and the Museum of Natural History in Ferrara, the aqueduct is reminiscent in style of the architecture depicted in some
paintings by Perugino and Raphael, such as the Sposalizio della Vergine (Marriage of the Virgin) of which both were authors.
Entirely built of reinforced concrete, the Monumental Aqueduct is 37 metres high and has two large lateral staircases. Surmounted by a dodecagonal reservoir containing up to 2,500 cubic metres of water, the structure features a rich decorative apparatus.
At the base we see
a monumental fountain adorned with a
depiction of the river Po and its tributaries, the work of Arrigo Minerbi, with some poplars around it, an allegory of the Eliad nymphs. These nymphs were the sisters of Phaeton, who, according to myth, was hurled to earth by Jupiter, thus giving birth to the river Po.
The construction of the aqueduct is part of the so-called Novecento addition, a set of architectural works built in the last century to make Ferrara a more modern city, as it had been in the time of the Este family.
Ferrara and Water
Ferrara is very often referred to as a
city of water, and this is no coincidence. Its very geographical position within the region is very evocative. Ferrara is one of the very few cities in Emilia-Romagna not to be located along the axis of the Via Emilia, together with Ravenna, and it is also
the only city in the region that does not have Roman origins, as in ancient times it was surrounded by unhealthy marshes and swamps.
Ferrara was therefore only born in the 9th century and from the very beginning its destiny depended on the waters of the nearby
Po River, to which it was connected by a network of canals including the Po di Volano, which still flows past the city centre today. Together with Comacchio, Ferrara soon became an important point of reference for trade and goods handling in the area.
