©MarinaDeFranceschini - Progetto Accademia
11 – CISTERN NEAR THE LIBRARIES
Description
Not far from the Fede Nymphaeum there is a farmhouse known as il Granaretto.
It was built above the roman walls of an ancient cistern or the Republican age. Its front wall was decorated with niches so as to make it look like a Nymphaeum.
The Cistern transformed in farmhouse
Here was the access check-point towards the central quarters of the Villa, the Area of the Imperial Palace.
There is a staircase that probably follows the ancient one and a ramp that goes up to the Lower Terrace of the Libraries.
Behind the Cistern there is the retaining wall of the Terrace itself
Visible only from outside.
Function and meaning
The Cistern, built in opus reticulatum, is one of the many buildings from the Republican age that have been enclosed into Hadrian's Villa.
Originally it was supposed to collect rainwater from the Republican Villa incorporated in the Imperial Palace, but the various channels have never been explored.
At the time of Hadrian the Cistern was kept in use, because it supplied water to the fountains of the Fede Nymphaeum.