Agrippa's Amazing, but Mostly Forgotten Water-Lifting Mechanism
Agrippa's Amazing, but Mostly Forgotten Water-Lifting Mechanism Though the machine developed by Agrippa for moving water gained the admiration of Andrea Bacci in 1588, it seemed to disappear not very long after. It may have come to be obsolete when the Villa Medici was able to get water from the Acqua Felice, the early contemporary channel, in 1592. This is all the more tragic bearing in mind how spectacular Camillo Agrippa’s technology was, absolutely singular in Italy during the hundreds of years that passed between the decline of ancient Rome and the modern period. There might have been different remarkable water-related works in Renaissance landscapes in the later part of the sixteenth century, like fountains that played tunes, water caprices (or giochi d’acqua) and also scenographic water demonstrations, but none of them was powered by water that defied gravitation.Original Water Supply Techniques in The City Of Rome
Original Water Supply Techniques in The City Of Rome Rome’s 1st raised aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was built in 273 BC; prior to that, people living at higher elevations had to rely on natural streams for their water. If residents living at higher elevations did not have access to springs or the aqueduct, they’d have to be dependent on the remaining existing systems of the time, cisterns that gathered rainwater from the sky and subterranean wells that received the water from under ground. In the early 16th century, the city began to make use of the water that flowed below the ground through Acqua Vergine to supply water to Pincian Hill. As originally constructed, the aqueduct was provided along the length of its channel with pozzi (manholes) constructed at regular intervals. Though they were originally planned to make it possible to service the aqueduct, Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi started using the manholes to accumulate water from the channel, opening when he purchased the property in 1543. Even though the cardinal also had a cistern to collect rainwater, it couldn't provide sufficient water.