Page - 14 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

Fig. 1:Roman northern Italy and its cities. 14 Patric-AlexanderKreuz Eporedia Augusta Praetoria Pola Tergeste Aquileia Iulium Carnicum ConcordiaOpitergium Tarvisum Tridentum AltinumVicetia Verona Brixia BergomumComum MediolanumNovaria Vercellae Ticinum Placentia Cremona Parma Regium Lepidi Mutina Bononia Ravenna Forum Cornelii Faventia CaesenaLuna Ariminum Dertona Genua Albingaunum Albintimilium Aquae Statiellae Alba Pompeia Hasta Augusta Taurinorum Patavium Parentium Duria Pa du s Adua Ollius Formio Water in theCities:Written sources The omnipresence andwealth ofwater in northern Italywas emphasized already in antiquity. Water was regarded as a characteristic feature of the region’s environment. Rivers, streams, swamps and lagoons were an immediate, everyday challenge for the settlements. In his De Architectura,writtenduring the late 1st centuryBC, thearchitectVitruviushighlightedwater as a dominant environmental factor in the region.1 In his paragraph on cities in swampy coastal areas, the northern Italian cities of Altinum, Aquileia and Ravenna find prominentmention.2 Only a short time later, the Greek geographer Strabo (or his source) describes the region as characterised bywatercourses, swamps and lagoons:3 Ravenna andAltinum, for example, lie like islands in thewater, others arepartially surroundedby it.Wealso learn thatRavennawas crossedbycanalsandcouldbenavigatedby ferries.Watermusthaveplayedadefining role for earlyVerona, too.According to the late republicanpoetCatullus,hishometownwascharacter- isedby low-lying, swampyareaswith standingwater along theAdige river andanoldwooden bridge leadingover it.4 In this low lying,partly swampyarea, crossedonlyby theviaPostumia and featuring only isolated buildings,5 we can identify the plain in the Adige river bend, an area which was fully developed only for the layout of a new, relocated city from 49BC on.6 The Veronawhich dates back to a Celtic settlementwas originally located on the left bank of 1 SeeCorso 1983 for references. 2 Vitr. Dearch. 1, 4. 11. 3 Str. 5, 1. 5‒8. 4 Catull. 17;Corso1986,583f. 586.Corso’sassumption that thisbridgewasonlya temporarysolution iscontradict- edbyCatullus emphasising its age. 5 CavalieriManasse 2008, 74f. 6 Corso 1986, 584.