Sotto l'Alto Patronato del Presidente della Repubblica e sotto il Patrocinio del Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali

Rome, as well known, since from Antiquity has been the city of waters and Fountains, quite often of an extraordinary artistic value. Today the city boasts six aqueducts and more than 550 monumental and  artistic public fountains.
These fountains represent important landmarks of the city and contribute in characterizing it and its outskirts; they attract and are a socializing element so much so that they continue to be designed even in new plans.
As fountains need water this creates many conservation problems, much more than any other open air monument.
Recently the conservation of fountains has turned into a more problematic matter, due to the need to contain consumptions and to the great difficulty in finding the necessary economic resources for their management  and maintenance, but also for the frequently indiscriminate use done by the increasing number of users.
La “Sovraintendenza ai Beni Culturali“ of Rome, institutionally elected to the safeguard and conservation of the historical – monumental evidences of the municipality, amongst whom are the fountains, has developed, with the collaboration of the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro, a methodology for their conservation. Many factors allow to conserve and valorise these important monuments with techniques and products able to give back them, as much as possible, their original configuration and functionalities: scientific surveys and documentary researches on the history of the fountains, on the aqueducts and on the city environment.

As well as providing opportunities for professionals individuals in the same area of work to share their maturated experiences and acquired knowledge, the international conference aims to provide a moment of synthesis, favouring integration and exchange between the professional abilities and competences that concur to the management and maintenance of  the fountains.

The participants will include Officials, Technicians, Restorers, Researchers. 

An exhibition will be organized parallel to the meeting illustrating different aspects of the management and history of  the fountains in Rome. Scientific posters and didactic panels - partially based on the subjects of some papers -, videos and multimedia products will illustrates:

• maps of the town of Rome to examine the topographic relationships between fountains and the urban development in ancient times;
• hydric situation related to fountains; water quality; consumptions; technologies; maintenance of fountains in relation to the specific history of the town
• ancient and current rules; edicts for the management and respect of the fountains
• restorations and maintenance of the most important fountains in the course of time and synthesis of the main related problems;
• historical documentations
• guided tours