ROMAN CISTERNS

Here we are! Just a few steps below the square a fantastic world appears before your eyes! Explore the amazing underground rooms that we Romans built 2100 years ago. Do you think it was an easy task? Not at all, but the results are still here for you to admire. In a time, not long ago, the ten vaulted rooms that you are about to discover were full of clean and fresh rain water that we fetched for our necessities. Imagine! the rooms that you are admiring could hold 4400 cubic meters of water and thanks to the many wells on the surface everyone could easily collect as much as they needed. Some of the wells are still present today on Matteotti Square and also in some of the courtyards of the surrounding noble buildings. While building this magnificent example of hydro engineering not even the smallest detail was overlooked: from the waterproof seal covering the surface of the cisterns to the advanced technique that conveyed the water in the rooms; from our system of keeping the rooms clean to the dam that allowed to empty this monumental structure. Our creation was so efficient and helpful that the inhabitants of Amelia kept using it up until just a few years ago..... If you don’t believe me then ask one of the elderly people sitting in the square, they’ll tell you about how they used to carry home their bucket full of water from the Roman Cisterns exactly like we did 2100 years ago! Now you know what outstanding monument lies below the city: Amelia Underground, an unusual visit filled with adventure and fascinating surprises.