Castellammare di Stabia, an ancient aqueduct discovered. Massimo Santaniello (President of the Archeoclub D'Italia, Castellammare di Stabia branch): “In the woods of Quisisana, in Castellammare di Stabia, a second aqueduct was discovered, older than the Bourbon one. Now all the documentation will go to the Superintendency!”.
“The exploration work that the Archeoclub d'Italia aps Stabiae has been conducting for several years is achieving very important results.
A second aqueduct, previously unknown, was recently discovered in the Quisisana woods, as the thick vegetation and the rugged nature of the area made some corners of the hill inaccessible.
The discovery of an aqueduct older than the one renovated/built by the Bourbons between 1783 and 1793 is confirmed by the Bourbon maps of the time. The older aqueduct had a capacity of about a quarter of the Bourbon one, with a 20x25 cm section tunnel. The newly discovered aqueduct runs at a different altitude than the Bourbon one, the section and the altitude are two elements that allow us to formulate some hypotheses: the ancient aqueduct could directly serve the Royal Palace and the hilltop villages until reaching the old center, the expansion of the Royal Residence with the construction of the King's fountains and the growing demand for water resources, due to the demographic increase and the construction of shipyards and penal baths". This was announced by Massimo Santaniello, President of the Archeoclub D'Italia branch of Castellammare di Stabia, in Campania, which has been conducting research and studies in the area for years.
"So you go from a 20x25 cm section to a 40x50 cm one, quadrupling the water flow. The extraordinary discovery consists of a canal arch that originates from a small cave - continued Santaniello - inside which there are two springs channeled towards the canal arch, the latter built in stone with a width of approximately 70/80 cm. During the exploration, in the immediate vicinity of the cave, we found a canal that probably conveyed a third spring towards the canal arch. Furthermore, unlike the canals built or renovated between 1783 and 1793, it has a more stable covering made of stone well sealed with mortar, a work carried out at the same time as the construction of the tunnel. Extending the research to a few hundred meters from the canal arch, we found a kiln for baking lime, one of the many present on the Quisisana hill to testify to the flourishing activity of lime production also aimed at the construction of the aqueducts. This latest discovery allows us to date the ancient aqueduct of Quisisana to a date prior to 1783, probably several centuries older. Ongoing research may demonstrate the more ancient origin of the aqueduct.
The work of archival research and explorations on the sites is the result of the collaboration between the Archeoclub d'Italia aps Stabiae and the Metropolitan Superintendency of Naples for a project of protection and valorization of the entire network of aqueducts of the Lattari Mountains to which all the collected documentation will be transmitted".
Article published on 27 December 2022 - 11:40
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