Archi dell'Acquedotto Romano

The arches of the Roman aqueduct are one of the historical prides of the city of Acqui: they are the best preserved of all the monuments of this type still existing in the territory of present-day Piedmont and one of the most significant examples of Roman aqueducts in all of Northern Italy. The construction of this system can be traced back to the early Imperial period, perhaps the Augustan era (early 1st century AD). Two large, distinct sections of the original structure still remain, composed of seven and eight stone masonry pillars, respectively, with a square base. In the best-preserved section, near the bed of the Bormida River, the pillars (approximately 15 meters high) still support four large segmental arches, at the top of which was originally located the conduit for the flow of water, now lost. The ancient aqueduct extends for approximately 12 km, starting from the water collection basin located in Lagoscuro (in the municipality of Cartosio), through the Erro Valley, to the left bank of the Bormida River, with a total elevation difference of approximately 50 meters. In the first section, the route is almost entirely underground and consists of a rectangular-section conduit, constructed of opus cementitici (river pebbles or small sandstone blocks bonded with tough mortar) and covered by a barrel vault. In the final section, however, starting from the Regione Marchiolli, at the level of the current Sassello state road, the grandiose elevated structure was built precisely because of the need to cross the Bormida Valley and the riverbed, connecting it to the underground section of the conduit. Overall, the elevated structure must have originally consisted of at least forty pillars, through which the aqueduct finally made its monumental entrance into the ancient settlement of Aquae Statiellae.