Bringing water to a city on top of a hill was essential in ancient times. In case of siege, the water supply allows resisting longer, but during peacetime it was also necessary to make life easier and more comfortable. Every spring inside the Walls was used and the water was canalized and collected in big tanks.
How was it possible to purify water without any chemistry knowledge? With the Lantro Fountain, the people of Bergamo used the double-tank system, a technique invented by the ancient Romans: spring water was canalized into the first tank. As the water speed decreased, impurities (sand and other corpuscles) sediment on the bottom. It’s a very ancient system, but extremely effective, indeed!
The building you can visit is the XVI Century one and it’s a very fascinating place. The ceiling vault converges in a single column that’s even more beautiful thanks to the glares of the pure water filling the tank: it can store up to 400 cubic meters of water!
Bringing water to a city on top of a hill was essential in ancient times. In case of siege, the water supply allows resisting longer, but during peacetime it was also necessary to make life easier and more comfortable. Every spring inside the Walls was used and the water was canalized and collected in big tanks.
How was it possible to purify water without any chemistry knowledge? With the Lantro Fountain, the people of Bergamo used the double-tank system, a technique invented by the ancient Romans: spring water was canalized into the first tank. As the water speed decreased, impurities (sand and other corpuscles) sediment on the bottom. It’s a very ancient system, but extremely effective, indeed!
The building you can visit is the XVI Century one and it’s a very fascinating place. The ceiling vault converges in a single column that’s even more beautiful thanks to the glares of the pure water filling the tank: it can store up to 400 cubic meters of water!
