Water and Ruins. Hydric Traces and Underground Morphologies of Rome

This paper investigates the relationship between water and urban form in Rome through a morphological approach. Moving beyond conventional representations centred on the Tiber and the monumental aqueducts, the research examines visible, hidden, and disappeared hydric infrastructures, including watercourses, cloacae, ditches, marrane, and artificial basins. Building on the Muratorian method and integrating contemporary cartographic and GIS tools, the study maps the hydric system at the metropolitan scale and correlates it with urban morphological fields. The results highlight the structural role of water in shaping settlement patterns, urban continuities, and areas of transformation, revealing the hydric network as a persistent territorial infrastructure underlying the evolution of Rome.