The ruins of ancient Roman city of Italicabirthplace of the Emperor Trajan and at least the family of his successor, Hadrian, continue their path towards the precious declaration of world heritage while the archaeological complex experiences a clear revitalization stage, … with aspects such as its new Master Plan or the opening of the theater to the visiting circuit.
The archaeological site, consisting mainly of the remains of the urban expansion promoted during the time of Emperor Hadrian (117-138 CE), who had family roots in this city to which he also granted the status of colony; It is therefore in focus, while the enclave continues to gain integers among the most visited heritage spaces in the provincewith almost 223,000 people in 2024 and almost 140,000 between January and September this year, according to official statistics.
In this new era of splendor for Itálica, whose “vetus urbs” or city before Hadrian’s expansion lies beneath the current urban area of Santiponce and which aspires to World Heritage status as an enclave specially designed to host grand ceremonies and spectacles; perhaps it is not useless to put it on the table somewhat unknown architectural remains for the general public, to stay away from the archaeological site.
In this case we are talking about remains of the aqueduct of this Roman citywhich supplied the city with water from the Fuentes de Tejada, in the municipality of Escacena del Campo, in the province of Huelva; thanks to an infrastructure of approximately 36 and a half kilometers promoted during the Adrianea stage; from a previous installation built in the 1st century CE to drink water from the sources of the Guadiamar River. That is to say, the 2nd century section was built to complement and enlarge the previous one.
More than 36 kilometers of route
Throughout a course of more than 36 kilometersthis aqueduct had approximately 16 kilometers of conduction laid directly above ground, approximately four kilometers of arches, and 17 kilometers of underground sections.
For its construction it was mainly used concrete covered with bricks and hydraulic mortar inside of the canal; underlining the historian and archaeologist Alicia Canto, author of a study published in 2002 on this construction, that when in 1974 a team of engineers from the Hydrographic Confederation of Guadalquivir (CHG) undertook an analysis of the layout of this infrastructure from the Roman era, they were surprised by the “precision” with which the orographic difficulties were overcome, considering “technically impeccable” this construction carried out with techniques and working instruments from there is almost two millennia old.
Generally speaking, this large hydraulic infrastructure is of course based on transport of water by gravitybecause between Fuentes de Tejada as the head and its connection with Itálica there is a difference in level of approximately 40 meters, which on its course of more than 36 kilometers translates into an average slope of 1,008 percent.
Remains of the Itálica aqueduct in an olive grove
This aqueduct still retains many sections still in a relative state of conservationheritage of the great technical potential of ancient Rome and the magnificence obtained by Hadrian’s Italica.
As archaeologist Alicia Canto explains in her 2002 study “Aquae Italicenses: The Roman Aqueduct of Itálica,” they are still visible remains of this infrastructureto a greater or lesser extent, at the head of the aqueduct in the Fuentes de Tejada area, located in the municipality of Huelva, Escacena del Campo; at the crossing of the Los Arquillos stream, in the bed of the Agrio river through Aznalcóllar or on the road that connects this municipality to Gerena, where the route of the remains winds between the road at the height of the El Chaparral farm.
Historian Alicia Canto details in a 2002 study all the still visible remains of the Itálica aqueduct.
There is also remains visible at the crossing of Los Frailes Creekin the Carcahueso area, where some skylights confirm the existence of an important underground section, at the crossing of the Guadiamar river, near the La Alegría farm, in Gerena; and especially on the eastern bank of this river, in an olive grove accessible from the Conti farm, where this construction presents a spectacular state of conservation of its masonry; to cite some of the main sections detailed by Alicia Canto in her in-depth study.
An infrastructure which, as this same expert points out in her research work, It lacks the colossal character of other great aqueducts promoted by ancient Rome, with the imposing arches of Segovia as the greatest representative of the Iberian Peninsula, and constitutes an “eminently pragmatic” work, in which he nevertheless highlights how its promoters achieved “the transfer of the basins to perfection” and left numerous examples of their great engineering skill.
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