Aquaducts

With the push of a button, or a turn of a handle, water is at our fingertips. We don't give it a thought in our modern day world, even though we use it all day. We use it to not only clean our bodies, but our clothes, our vehicles, or anything else we can scrub down. It keeps our lawns lush and green, and grows the food we eat. It creates electricity. We float in our pools and stay cool with it. With hoses, we use it to save our burning homes and land. We feel upset when a city water line is busted and our water is off for only a few hours for repairs. The list goes on, but the most important thing about water is, we need drinking water to live!
Can you imagine how life changed when the Romans constructed the first Aquaducts and water was brought into the city through "pipes" instead of being hand carried in clay jars? It was a BIG DEAL! It changed things. Life just got easier.
To this day the Italians feel about the Aquaducts, like the Egyptians feel about the Pyramids, or how the Greeks feel about the Parthenon.

The picture below shows two people in the lower left hand corner in front of an arch. I wanted to use this picture first, because I wanted to show the size of the structures. This section of the Aquaducts is just outside of Rome. In fact, standing where I took this picture, I could look to my left, and way off in the distance, I could see the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. If I followed the line of the Aquaducts to the right, I could see how they went on for miles up into the foothills. Although Italy has Aquaducts scattered throughout the country, this section outside of Rome is the longest connected section, and runs about 70 miles. A guide had taken me to the end of a dirt road, off the beaten path. I told the guide I had seen the Aquaducts from a far distance when I was coming into Rome from Naples on the train, but I didn't know how to get to them. The guide smiled and told me most tourist don't know about the road. It was quiet and serene. I walked down the dirt road by myself, until I stood directly under the towering giants. For some reason, I had the need to touch them. I rested my hand against the wall for longest time, and just stood there, looking around. There was a peace about them. I guess I compared them to the other two things that, for me anyway, represented ancient Rome; the Colosseum and the Appia. The Colosseum was amazing, but made you think about death. The Appia was also amazing, but made me think more about armies marching into battle, than Romans using it to bring their groceries home on. But the Aquaducts, even though they were initially built for the rich and famous, were used for something good. They represented life...or something like that.

The Appia

Someone once wrote, "All roads lead to Rome." At one time, when Rome ruled the world, they did, and the oldest and most famous road was named the Appia. I know it may be boring to some people, but to me, walking down the Appia gave me goosebumps.
One Sunday, Stacey and I packed a couple bottles of water, fruit, and some bread, into a backpack and drove to the where the Appia starts, at the Gates of San Sebastian, on the edge of Rome. The first twelve miles leading out of Rome is a straight road, and is under the watchful eye of the archaeological society. We walked for about five miles that day, stopping to rest, eat, take pictures and talk about who had pasted "right here" on this very spot. The Romans had planted tall pine trees the entire length of the original road....for miles and miles, to shade the troops as they walked into battle, so they would be less fatigued than the enemy. I'm sure they were not the original trees, but the entire road is still lined with massive pines, that do make the hike easier. We saw what is left of a few temples, a small circus massimo, catacombs, churches, Romulas's tomb, and much more. Huge villas, that I'm sure house the "rich and famous," were littered along the road, along with a few restaurants, and other businesses. It was like a living historical site. But as the Appia works it way down towards Napoli, and spreads out across the rest of Italy, some of it has been lost to centuries of people building structures over it, to farmland, and to whatever else purpose that seemed more important. But to my delight there are miles and miles of the original road under layers of modern day highways. Stacey drives over a long section of the Appia, about once a week. I like going with him and staring out the window, watching the trees along the road zip by, amagining what Cleapatra thought as she was carried down this amazing road on her way to Rome.

Fiuggi, yet another surprise!

For our anniversary, we wanted to just relax and find a little hilltown to explore. Fiuggi is located less than an hour from Rome, on the way to Naploli. We really knew nothing about this place except our hotel had a spa and we wanted to splurge on couple massages to add to our relaxing weekend plan. We checked in Friday night and before dinner wanted to explore the little town. The town was the same as every other hilltown in Italy, and then again, no town is the same in Italy. Flowers spilled out window boxes, sidewalks were covered with tables and chairs for outside eating, benches for sitting and talking...or people watching, and of course, gelato shops everywhere. We were delighted and strolled around just looking. We wondered down to a place that looked like an entrance to a park. People were paying what looked like about five euros and were strolling in. It looked so peaceful. Trails, walking paths, fountains all meandered out of sight, under an umbrella of pine trees. It was just about then that we noticed two things. One, about 98% of the people strolling around and going into the park were older than Stacey and I. We thought at first that maybe we happened upon a community that had a retirement home!!! Something that we had never heard of or seen before in Italy. People just don't live in retirement homes. They live with family!! Anyway, the second thing we noticed, almost everyone was carrying around a cup! That's right, a cup!! We thought with all the festivals going on across Italy, there must be one tonight and there must be free drinks if you bring your cup!!How fun!!! We went back to the hotel and got dressed for dinner. Stacey was looking at the map of the town and was reading about the sights. All of the sudden he said, "Oh, I know why everyone is carrying those cups and this is such an "elderly" populated community...there is a miracle spring here in Fiuggi!" Around 1300, Pope Boniface VIII was convinced that the spring water cured his kidney stones. Michelangelo said it cured him of something...at this moment I forgot what it was, but it is called Miraculous aqua di Fiuggi! People stroll down and get a drink DAILY...and it said most people do it twice a day!!! That night at dinner our "young" waiter told us he didn't drink anything but Fiuggi water and that we shouldn't either!! He was as serious as a heart attack! No pun intended. Every place we ate, Fiuggi "miracle" water was on our table. We loved finding Fiuggi. It was a beautiful place. Our hotel wasn't to bad either. The food was wonderful, and the messages were awesome!




Pool area in the early morning. There is an outside eating area behind the umbrellas and hedge at the back.
The view from our window looking left..........
The view looking right.........