Aqua Appia

Aqua Appia is the earliest Roman aqueduct, built to carry fresh water into the city of Rome in 312 BC. It is historically significant as Rome’s first major engineered water supply.

Much of the aqueduct ran below ground level, so there are few long visible stretches today; knowledge of its route comes from ancient records and archaeological investigations. Surviving sections are fragmentary and mostly seen by specialists during targeted excavations or in museums rather than as a continuous monument for casual visitors.

Construction was ordered by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus as part of broader civic works in the early Republican period. It supplied the growing city with water through a mostly subterranean conduit and distribution system of pipes and cisterns.

The Aqua Appia lay within and entering the bounds of ancient Rome and its remains are found under modern urban fabric in the Lazio region. Exact surface traces are intermittent because later building and roadworks overlie much of its course.

• Built: 312 BC, commissioned by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus as Rome's first aqueduct.
• Length: About 16.4 kilometres long and largely constructed underground, making surviving above-ground remains scarce.