The Fucine Inlet () is a monument built on the head of the main

emissary Emissary may refer to: __NOTOC__ Arts and entertainment Star Trek * Benjamin Sisko, the Emissary of the Prophets, the Bajorans' gods * "Emissary" (''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''), the pilot episode of ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' * "The Em ...

of the

Fucine Lake The Fucine Lake ( or ) was a large endorheic karst lake between above sea level and surrounded by the Monte Sirente- Monte Velino mountain ranges to the north-northeast, Mount Salviano to the west, Vallelonga to the south, and the Valle del G ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It is made up of the three-arched bridge of the

sluice gates A sluice ( ) is a water channel containing a sluice gate, a type of lock to manage the water flow and water level. There are various types of sluice gates, including flap sluice gates and fan gates. Different depths are calculated when design s ...

and the about statue of the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...

rising above. It is situated in Borgo Incile, a locality south of the city of

Avezzano Avezzano ( ; ) is a city and comune in the Abruzzo region, province of L'Aquila, Italy. It is the second most populous municipality in the province and the sixth in the region. It is the main commercial, industrial and agricultural centre of the ...

, in the

Fucine The Fucine Lake ( or ) was a large endorheic karst lake between above sea level and surrounded by the Monte Sirente- Monte Velino mountain ranges to the north-northeast, Mount Salviano to the west, Vallelonga to the south, and the Valle del G ...

plain,

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, ; ; , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; ), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km (4,156 sq mi) and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four ...

Central Italy Central Italy ( or ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region with code ITI, and a European Parliament constituency. It has 11,704,312 inhabita ...

. The facility, necessary for the drainage of the Fucine Lake, connects the outer drainage canal to the underground emissary which is served by the system of the

Tunnels of Claudius The Tunnels of Claudius () consist principally of a 6 km-long tunnel (or ''emissary'') together with several monumental service tunnels which Ancient Rome, Roman Emperor Claudius had built by 52 AD to partially drain the Fucine Lake in Abruzzo, p ...

Mount Salviano () is a massif in the Abruzzo Apennines, Central Italy. It includes the peaks of Monte d'Aria (), Monte Cimarani () and Monte San Felice (). Since 1999 the area, falling within the municipal territory of Avezzano (Province of L'Aquila), has bee ...

. The monument was made in 1876 by architect Carlo Nicola Carnevali.

History

The head of the main emissary of the

was made built by

Alessandro Torlonia Prince ''Don (honorific), Don'' Alessandro Raffaele Torlonia, Prince of Fucino, Princes of Civitella-Cesi, Prince of Civitella-Cesi, Duke of Ceri (January 1, 1800 – February 7, 1886) was an Italian nobleman of the House of Torlonia. He was the ...

in 1876 following the occurred drainage of the lake. The Roman banker resumed the works and plans of 18 centuries earlier by which

Emperor Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor at Lugdu ...

carried out the first drainage of the Fucine basin after the impressive digging works of the

and the Roman emissary occurring between 41 AD and the year of inauguration, 52 AD.. With the

fall of the Roman Empire The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...

a lack of facility maintenance followed, which, most probably after the effects of a serious earthquake occurring in 508 AD, favoured the clogging of the underground canal, with the resulting natural reflood of the Fucine basin where the waters were soon back to the levels prior to the first drainage. The Claudian plan was resumed in an effective way starting from 1856, 18 centuries later, by Alessandro Torlonia who had the sections of the main emissary enlarged and further vents and inclined shafts built which served the above tunnels. On the higher part of the tunnel, in some points, the original Roman work is visible. In 1876, having achieved the second drainage which was officially declared with a document of 1 October 1878, the Roman architect of the

House of Torlonia 200px, Coat of arms of the House of Torlonia, part of the Auvergne The House of Torlonia, the Princes of Civitella-Cesi, is the name of an Italian nobility, Italian princely family from Rome, which acquired a huge fortune in the 18th and 19th cen ...

, Carlo Nicola Carnevali, built the head of the emissary, a monumental work made up of the bridge of the

and the statue of the

, situated in Borgo Incile south of

. From the area of the cleaning works of the Roman inlet and the nearby areas connected to the Fucine territory, several items emerged: four reliefs, depicting scenes from the Fucine Lake and a

Marsi The Marsi were an Italic people of ancient Italy, whose chief centre was Marruvium, on the eastern shore of Lake Fucinus (which was drained in the time of Claudius). The area in which they lived is now called Marsica. They originally spoke a l ...

an town, some inscriptions on marble plaques reporting distance measures in feet, graffiti, some work materials such as a large bucket and an oil-lamp, as well as several archaeological items such as busts, epigraphs and ''cappuccina'' tombs. The working facility regulates the flow of the waters coming from the numerous Fucine canals which pour them into the outer drainage canal. Two basins, the small loading basins, and the fares allow to regulate the waters flowing out into the emissary, the tunnel crossing Mount Salviano at the base for more than before intersecting the course of the

Liri River The Liri (Latin Liris or Lyris, previously, Clanis; Greek: ) is one of the principal rivers of central Italy, flowing into the Tyrrhenian Sea a little below Minturno under the name Garigliano. Source and route The Liri's source is in the Mo ...

, on the opposite side of the mountain under the town of

Capistrello Capistrello is a ''comune'' and town in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of central-southern Italy. It is located at the border between the upper Liri River valley and the Marsica. Capistrello borders the following municipalities: Ave ...

. The chief site engineer, French Alessandro Brisse, chose the materials for the construction of the work, while architect Carlo Nicola Carnevali supervised the architectural plan, also building in 1876 the adjoining garden in addition to the monument of the emissary head.. A second emissary was built in 1942 by the Torlonia with the purpose of compensating for the main tunnel in case of extraordinary repairs. It starts from the intersection point of the Roman emissary with the outer drainage next to one of the water storage basins. The second tunnel, built southwards, ends up in

Canistro Canistro is a ''comune'' (municipality) and town in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. Geography Canistro, located in the Roveto valley, borders to the north with Capistrello and the ''frazione'' of Pescocanale, to ...

next to one of the hydroelectric power plants built by the Torlonia with the aim of generating power for the operation of the Avezzano paper and sugar mills.

Description

The Fucine Inlet is a

Neo-Classical style Neoclassical architecture, sometimes referred to as Classical Revival architecture, is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy, France and Germany. It became one of the most promin ...

work built by using local stone blocks for the main body of the building, carved out of the quarries that were located in the mountainous territory of

. It develops on two levels, the lower one below the plane of site which is almost high and contains the safety systems, and the higher one which houses the engine-room. In the centre, on a block rises the about statue in local stone depicting the

of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

, which was re-built after the 1915 earthquake. A crescent of moon was fixed at its base, while a twelve-star crown lies upon the Virgin's head. The bronze elements call up the Biblical

Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile (597–587 BCE) but persisting in Christianity and Islam. In apocalypse, a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a ...

. Of the original statue, which collapsed following the 1915 Marsica earthquake, only some fragments remain, which are exposed in the park of Villa Torlonia. The so-called ''Madonnone dell'Incile'' (literally, "Big Madonna of the Inlet") rises above the three-arched bridge of the

. The structure features two water storage basins, one with a trapezoidal shape and the other hexagonal, and three gates (or locks). The first one separates the major hexagonal basin from the forebasin through a gorge. The gate pillars are made up of three round arches. Two side staircases lead to the canal wharfs.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

* * * {{cite web, url=http://www.fucino.altervista.org/pagina-875321.html, title=Fucinus lacus. Il primo prosciugamento, website=fucino.altervista.org, publisher=AlterPages, access-date=4 May 2017, language=it Buildings and structures in Abruzzo Buildings and structures in Avezzano

Inlet An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ...

History

Description

See also

References

Bibliography

External links