Page - 26 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

26 Patric-AlexanderKreuz However,Padua isnoteworthyaboveall becauseourwrittensourceson thecity (and river) giveusexceptional insights intoalocalcollectivetraditionconnectedto,shapedbyandregular- ly affirmedby localwater – the river as a locale of collective identity.Our source is theRoman historian Livy, himself a native of Padua. In his account of the Venetic naval victory over the Spartan Kleonymos during his expedition to the North Adriatic in 302BC, Livymentions that the enemy’s ships’ beaks captured on this occasionwere kept in the old temple of Iuno in the city.44 In this context he also mentions that, in remembrance of this significant victory each yearonitsanniversary,acertamennavalis, anavalbattle,washeldontheriver flowingthrough the city (in flumine oppidimedio exercetur).45 His account underlines that this event related to a historical episode from a time long before Roman control of the region played amajor role as a component of local Paduan identity. It could be experienced in different media (spolia, performative staging) and topographical locations (temple, river) andwaskeptupat leastuntil the time of Livy. In particular, the naval battle, taking place as a spectacle on the river as a central locale of the city,must have been staged in the presence of large parts of the regional population.Withall theseaspects, theMetuacuspassing throughPaduaconnected inan imme- diatewaycollective traditionandfacetsofawell-established local identitywith the topographi- cal location ‘river’. Urbanwater innorthern Italy: A summary ThePoplain, rich in tributaries, streamsandmeadows,hasalways requiredmelioration,drain- age and canalisation.Water was therefore not only a constitutive component of the regional environment, but it hasalwaysbeenachallenge for the regionalurbancommunities. In conse- quence, canals andwatercourses were a significant factor in the development of the regional cityscapes, not only in the obvious examples of the delta of the Poor the cities situated at the caputAdriae, but also e.g. inMilanor inVerona. However, a closer look reveals a farwider rangeofwaysof handling localwater aswell as of embedding it in the cityscapes. Beyond the above-mentioned infrastructural level with its canals,watercoursesandrelatedconstructionsand their consequences forurbanandsuburban topographies,we findwater since the 1st centuryAD increasingly embedded inurbanarchitec- ture. Installations like fountains enriched,whether asmonumental architecturesor as subordi- nate installations, built environments inmanifoldways and accentuated their specific setting. Intheirdiverse typestheycontributed,ascanbeseenatLuni, inaprominentwaytothepercep- tionandaesthetic experienceof ‘their’ urban (sub-)spacesand their ambiences.Yet theembed- ding of water was also possible on a far larger scale. In Verona and Iulia Concordia, a local watercoursewas transformed intoaprominent locale (or constitutive element of it) of thebuilt topography. Finally, our sources onPadua remindus that the importance of localwater for an urban communitymaynot be restricted to infrastructure or installations, butmayalso include a role as a link to andas aplaceof local identities. As a general tendency and beginning with the early Imperial period, the regional water becamemore andmore ‘urbanised’. Beyondwater supply anddisposal, itwas increasingly the object and focus of architectural initiatives and ambition. The archaeological record reveals a remarkablerangeof initiativesandsolutions toembedwaternotonlyasatopographical feature of thecityscapes,butalsoasadecorativecontributiontourbanspaces inorder toenhance their (see below) and to interpret it as an installation to accommodate spectators in themanner of aVIP stand (Vigoni 2013, 100). 44 Liv. 10, 2. 14. 45 Liv. 10, 2. 15.