HISTORICAL SITES
Acquedotto Monumentale
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Monumental Aqueduct
Ferrara's Monumental Aqueduct, or Aqueduct Tank, is a large and distinctive building located in Piazza 24 Maggio in the District called as Quartiere Giardino. Designed by the well-known architect Carlo Savonuzzi, the structure conveys a strong sense of modernity albeit being reminiscent of the Renaissance in some of its details.
Those who feel like going outside of the centre to discover 20th-century Ferrara, cannot miss this majestic monument.
Monumental Aqueduct - Historical notes
Set within what is now a convivial garden square, Ferrara's Monumental Aqueduct is the second water reservoir built in the city The complex was embellished by the famous architect Carlo Savonuzzi, following the rationalist taste typical of the 1930s. This peculiar architecture seems to have come out of a painting by Raphael or Perugino, although it is built entirely of reinforced concrete. The fountain in the center of the monument will amaze you with its majestic personification of the Po River and its tributaries.
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POPLARS AND MYTHOLOGY. Around the monument you will see rows of tall poplar trees, a clear reference to the classical myth related to the origins of the area and the Po River. Phaeton, son of Helios, god of the Sun, was given permission to drive Zeus' chariot for one day. The horses, however, noticing a different driver than usual, began to run wildly across the sky, burning a stretch of sky and strips of earth. Thus were born the Milky Way and the deserts. Enraged, Zeus punished Phaeton with a thunderbolt, who died by falling at the mouth of the Eridanus River – an ancient greek name for the Po. Phaethon's sisters, the Eliads, having arrived on the shore and grieving the death of their brother, were turned into poplars. In this way, their tears were also turned into amber.
BERSAGLIERI AND THE RIVER. Looking at the Acquedotto Monumentale, to its right, in the gardens that surround it, you will find a monument dedicated to the Bersaglieri del Po. This was a military unit composed of volunteers from Ferrara that participated in the First Italian War of Independence and after whom a street in the centre is also named. The work was created by sculptor Fiorenzo Bacci.