Anthropogenic modifications to the drainage network of Rome (Italy). The case study of the Aqua Mariana

Rome is characterized by millennia of urbanization. Long lasting geomorphological investigations have allowed the geomorphological description of the city centre and the valorisation of its geomorphological heritage. In this paper the spatial change of the hydrographic network in historical times is illustrated, with some examples showing how deep has been, and still it is, the link between the historical-cultural development and the natural geomorphological and hydrological characteristics of the Roman territory. In particular, the most relevant human interventions on the drainage network, in the southern area of the city centre, have been investigated. Before the land-use modifications of Roman-age, this area was drained by the most important left tributary of the Tiber River within the city walls, the Nodicus River, more recently known as Aqua Mariana. This stream has undergone many anthropogenic modifications and diversions during the centuries, and its original path is known only downstream of the San Giovanni Basilica. According to geomorphological, archaeological and geological evidences, it is possible to hypothesize that the dimension of the pre-urbanization drainage basin, as known and reconstructed in the available literature, should have been until now underestimated.