At Home In Rome: Chapter 3 Water

AT HOME IN ROME Part I       Why Rome?

Chapter 3 Water

I love living in a community where unlimited water is provided to the masses gratis. This elegant service puts all Romans, resident and visitor alike, into a pool as cool as the cool pools of the major fountains.

It’s hot and you need to cool off.  The gelato melted all over your shirt.  There’s doggie doo doo on your sandals. You’re thirsty.

Never fear.  For 3000 years the Eternal City has been providing fresh mountain water to everybody, all the time and for free, mi amici.

Soak your feet. Wash your hands. Fill up that water bottle. 2.5 million Romans relish this pure and precious commodity, available on the streets, in the alleys and at a favorite piazza. It’s there for you too when you visit, brought to you by a simple wonder of the ages, the aqueduct.

Several of these marvels, built as far back as Etruscan times, are operating today. They are much more than a train trestle with a sliding board on top.  Pipes, tunnels, reservoirs and arches combine to create that 1% pitch that allows water to flow gently from miles away, up high, to the sea level fountains, gardens, neighborhoods and markets of Rome. Basic and brilliant.

Ancient Rome knew how to keep the populace happy.  Free cable (the Colosseum). Garrisons and Legions to protect everybody.  Free public baths so commoner and serf can hobnob with the rich and infamous. Hot baths, cool pools, steam rooms for men-women-both-don’t ask; all primed and supplied with aqueduct water.

Think about it.  Where in the world can so many people access pure and healthy H2O on such a grand scale, gratis? It is the pride and joy of Bella Roma.  A recent political effort to regulate the fountain and flow, combine with a fee to be assessed, died quickly when the populace threatened to open the Colosseum Games again, using proponents as spear catchers.

Visitors always ask the magic question, “Is it safe”?  Americans are the funniest.  Everything is Montezumas revenge to them.  If the water isn’t in a sealed bottle with 12 disclaimers on the label, it’s not safe. Plastic purveyors and landfill landlords love it. I try to calmly explain that Mexico is an ocean away and drinking untreated water there is asking for all-orifice export all day for at least 3 days coupled with an insatiable desire to die. Here, the water flowing into Rome has FLOWED downhill from sources dozens of miles up, up and away. Water purifies itself every three feet, so the resulting slurp and schvitz in Piazza Navona is safer than the frozen food hockey puck you just nuked from your freezer.

Women in Rome have a low rate of osteoporosis thanks to the mineral rich liquid that abounds. Men in suits, slacks and shorts have no problem reverting to their youth, squatting under the nozzle to grab a gulp. In fact, the Italian word for nose, naso, begat nozzle.  The small, watering hole fountains themselves are called nasoni, little noses.

Plus, it tastes great. Think back to the old days when you drank from the garden hose.  Now upgrade yourself to something tried and true, good for you and tasty too. Remember, always ask for a glass of water when you have a cafe’ at the bar.  By Roman Law, they have to give it to you free.  Another gesture of generosity from Bella Roma and her aquaducts.