SIMBRUINA STAGNA UNA NUOVA LETTURA ALLA LUCE DELL’ANALISI GEOMORFOLOGICA

Abstract

The Simbruina Stagna complex is made up by three artificial lakes created in Roman times along the Aniene
river thanks to the building of dams. On their banks were distributed the residential areas of Nero’s villa
and they were also connected to the captation of the Anio Novus promoted by emperor Trajan to improve
the quality of its waters. The importance of the area was increased in the following centuries by the reuse
of the Neronian structures as the location of the first Benedictine monastic aggregation. Therefore, it has
been the subject of several studies to reconstruct the topography of the area and to define the connection
between the Nero’s villa and other components of landscape. Were the lakes made depending on the Nero’s
villa to increase the beauty and the amenity of those places destined to otium of emperor? Or maybe can we
read the three artificial basins as an important water system included in the wider project of water exploitation
along the Aniene river, begun with the captation of the Anio Vetus in 272 BC? I tried to answer these
questions proposing a re-reading of the whole area from a geomorphological and hydrogeological point of
view: this allowed us to understand the motivations behind some choices made by Roman specialists and
to establish the exact position of the dams. Moreover, the analysis of some architectural details, the help of
ancient authors and the use of GIS tecnhology allowed to dissolve some issues in the reconstruction of the
three artificial basins and the ancient landscape. Finally, the insertion of the Subiaco area in a wider study
concerning the whole river up to Tivoli outlined the possibility to read Simbruina Stagna as a final step in
the project to transform the Aniene river into the most important water supply source for the city of Rome.