APULIA: A SUNNY AND THIRSTY LAND
Hi everybody,
I’m Cristina, Simona… we come from Apulia, a region in Southern Italy.
Today, we’re going to talk about the relationship between WATER and OUR LAND. We will focus on groundwater and drought. Then we’ll tell you the story of the longest European aqueduct: the acquedotto pugliese.
Well, first and foremost, Apulia is a sunny and thirsty land. In the summer, temperatures are extremely high.
The origin of its dryness can be traced back to Cicero’s document: INANISSIMA PARS ITALIAE, that’s to ITALY’S DRIEST REGION.
Since that time Apulia has experienced moderate and prolonged drought and water shortage.
The first cause is the lack of long rivers: the Ofanto and Fortore are short rivers and they have dried up. That’s why Apulia can’t rely on a huge amount of water.
Its dryness is also due to the PERMEABILITY of the soil , in fact its WATER HOLDING CAPACITY is scarce. Another factor is that the rocks are LIMESTONE.
So, given these conditions, how have people dealt with the problem of water shortage?
Over centuries they have learnt to collect and save rainwater even with rough systems including drainpipes, holding tanks to store water) and cummerse, typical steep roofs to let water flow down and be collected. Even now most country houses in Apulia rely on rainwater collection for their water supply. Our territory is rich with cisterns, drainage systems,
moreover, people found out that water that was not collected on the surface was stored underground in the cracks and spaces in the soil, sand and rock. This is GROUNDWATER which moves slowly through layers of soil and rocks called AQUIFER.
Groundwater is our most important resource.
People learnt to extract water from wells drilled into the aquifer. There are two types of wells: ….
This was the love-hate relationship between Apulia and water, until the acquedotto pugliese was designed and built.
Having drinkable water at home was a welcome change!
SLIDE 8: In Apulia today there are 173 legal wells.
La SLIDE 11non va prima dell’acquedotto, ma dopo. Al posto di quella mettete l’ACQUAIOLO.
As a result many infectious diseases disappeared and sanitary conditions improved.
Slide 19 -20 the public drinking fountain, the so called “fontanina”
128 cm tall, made of cast iron, it’s the symbol of Aqp.
A 1904 regulation established that EACH fountain shouldn’t supply less than 25 cubic metres a day.
In Apulia’s towns there is about one fountain per 1500 inhabitants. Slide 19 - 20
Slide 21 - 22
This is the”aqp building” Located in Bari it’s the best example of the Liberty style. Everything here conveys the idea of the rocky relationship between Apulia’s people and its water.
Slide 23 the water jug
Slide 24 the marble floor represents women and water...
25 this picture shows a piece of the floor . the horse is a symbol of purity, that’s why it is associated twith water. The horse would rather die than drink dirty water.
Cristina Civita, Simona Lops, Luana Capuzzolo