A Napoli a unique and unusual museum has been inaugurated, another incredible attraction in the city for summer 2021. We are talking about the first Water museum. A path below the ground level located in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore alla Pietrasanta.
The major decumanus of the Water Museum
By accessing an "archaeological lift" you can go down between the tuff walls up to 35 meters, to get to the "decumano maggiore". In this place until the sixth century AD there was a temple dedicated to Diana. In the same place it is possible to admire the ancient cisterns with graffiti and mosaics from the Roman era. Each visitor will be introduced to the cisterns of theBolla aqueduct. It is the first city aqueduct created by the Greeks and enlarged by the Romans between the Caponapoli area and the Chiatamone outlet to the sea.
The Bolla Aqueduct is made up of the "Eel tank"And"Hall of Waves“, The latter also known as the Prince's Pool. It is so called because it is located under the Palace of Prince Gaetano Filangieri d'Arianello. Ten meters wide, twenty long by more than five deep, it has a capacity of 400 cubic meters of water.
The path to take
The whole route is about one kilometer and thanks to the collaboration with the National Archaeological Museum of Naples it will be enriched with thematic finds. To welcome visitors there will be plays of lights, relaxing sounds and interactive multimedia panels that illustrate the history of the Aqueduct.
Il Naples Water Museum has as its protagonist, in this first phase of the project, the Acqua del Serino and its extraordinary aqueduct. Born between the late 1800s and early 1900s, it is possible to admire the original designs drawn on silk. They date back to 1881 from the Serino Aqueduct and have been conserved up to now by ABC Napoli in its Historical Archive.
The underground route reopened to the public with Il Decumano Sommerso from 25 June 2021 every weekend (Saturday and Sunday). There are four daily visits accompanied by staff. The Museum and the Underground path are located at the Basilica della Pietrasanta in Piazzetta Pietrasanta a Napoli, beginning of via Tribunali. The ticket costs € 10 while for the reduced children (6-18 years) it costs € 6 and is free from 0-6 years.
