Aqueduct of Nottolini, Lucca

Just outside the walled city of Lucca, this vast neoclassical 19-th century aqueduct  brought water from the mountains in the South.

It has over 400 arches and stretches over three kilometres. Sadly it was intercepted in the 1920s  by the motorway which runs from  Pisa to Florence. The arches are often thought to be Roman, but the construction of the aqueduct was started in 1832 by Lorenzo Nottolini during the reign of Maria Luisa of Spain, Duchess of Lucca and ended in 1851.

The water comes from several springs, close to the nearby village of Vorno. It was then transported to a cistern - a  domed circular stone temple - near  Guamo. The water was then carried to the San Concordio tank by metal pipes, before being distributed to the city’s fountains, starting with the circular fountain in Piazza Antelminelli,  next to Lucca Cathedral.

Nowadays the aqueduct makes a beautiful walk or bike ride. You can access it just behind Lucca’s railway station.

H005/Wikimedia CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
H005/Wikimedia CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
 Myrabella/Wikimedia CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Myrabella/Wikimedia CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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