WATER ARCHITECTURE: NOTES ON SOME MATERIAL AND CULTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE AMALFI COAST LANDSCAPE

The essay, through unpublished archive documents flanked by a conspicuous photographic survey and metric surveys of the described structures of the ancient maps, represents the attempt to reconstruct the functioning of the ancient aqueducts built on the Amalfi Coast in remote times. The ‘dry’ walls which represent, as is well known, the most interesting and visible feature in that territory, however, conceal a system of collection and distribution of water of considerable complexity which, for certain episodes, are to be considered as uncommon ingenuity. These artifacts – only recently, at the initiative of a few, recovered at least in part – constitute a sure reference for the research of water recycling and recovery systems for mitigating the effects of climate change since they were designed to compensate for the relative shortage of water and, now, useful for a prudent use of water resources.