L’acquedotto augusteo di Neapolis: ipotesi sul tracciato urbano attraverso la cartografia storica e i nuovi rinvenimenti

This paper must be considered in close correlation with the other one, also inserted in these proceedings, dealing with the remains of the Augustan aqueduct recently found in Naples, near via Arena alla Sanità and vico Traetta: the very consistent tracks of this ancient structure were shown us and then carefully studied by the scholars of Vergini-Sanità and Celanapoli cultural associations. For the Author, since a long time being busy in the study of architectural and urban history about the borgo dei Vergini, this discovery was a new opportunity for a more careful analysis of historical iconographic and cartographic sources about this place: through the survey on many manuscripts or on edited texts about the ancient aqueducts of Naples, now we can get some important information so far never considered properly. This analysis shall be very valuable in terms of a reconstructive hypothesis about the route of the Roman structure and its relationship with the other neapolitain aqueducts and with the layout of the urban roads. A lot of indications we can find in the Neapolitan cartography, such as the city maps by Giovanni Carafa duca di Noja (1750-75), by Luigi Marchese (1804, 1813), by Federico Schiavoni (1872-80) and the first geometric-parcel map of Naples (1895-1905) are now to be reinterpreted through the comparative analysis of many descriptions about the Fons Augusteus by historians and professionals during modern and contemporary age, which are also very useful to make clear the causes of some incomprehensible street routes or names.