Historical development of the Augustan Aqueduct in Southern Italy: twenty centuries of works from Serino to Naples

The aim of the present study was to investigate the historical development of the Augustan Aqueduct Serino-Naples-Miseno in the Campania Region, in Southern Italy. The Serino aqueduct is not well known because there are no remains of spectacular bridges, but it was a masterpiece of engineering and one of the largest aqueduct systems in the whole Roman Empire. The Serino aqueduct was constructed during the Augustus period of the Roman Empire, probably between 33 and 12 BC when Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was curator aquarum in Rome, principally in order to refurnish the Roman fleet of Misenum and secondarily to supply water for the increasing demand of the important commercial harbour of Puteoli as well as drinking water for big cities such as Cumae and Neapolis. The main channel of the Serino aqueduct was approximately 96 km long, and had 7 main branches to towns along its trace such as Nola, Pompeii, Acerra, Herculaneum, Atella, Pausillipon, Nisida, Puteoli, Cumae and Baiae. Since the total length of all the branches was approximately 49 km, the Serino aqueduct complex had a length of around 145 km and therefore it should be considered the largest aqueduct system in the Roman world.