First excavations and birth of the medieval aqueduct system The first underground watercourses already existed in the 4th century, during the
Roman period, when
Siena was still limited to the area of Castelvecchio. The Fontanella fountain is mentioned here in 394. The reason for the construction of the aqueduct system in the
Middle Ages was mainly due to the shortage of water in the city of
Siena, which experienced a period of strong population growth starting from the 11th century. They were first documented with their
Latin name in 1226 as
Buctinus. Bricked Bottini were documented during the expansion works of
Fontebranda in 1246 when
thousands of stones were used. Further work on the tributaries took place in March 1250, here work was carried out on the wells of Val di Montone, Val di Follonica,
Fontebranda, Pescaia and Vetrice, with that of Pescaia on the two main arms attached (Bottino di
Fonte Gaia and Bottino di
Fontebranda). In 1267 there were attempts to direct the waters of the
Merse to
Siena, but these plans failed shortly afterwards. After that, the focus was again on repairing the existing waterways. New water veins were found in 1274, which later led to the construction of the Fontenuova and Fonte d'Ovile fountains.
Development and evolution of the Bottini In order to finally lead the water to the central
Piazza del Campo, the city government accepted on December 16, 1334, Jacopo di Vanni was entrusted with bringing the water from the veins to the north into the city and this, already in 1343, arrived in
Piazza del Campo, the center of the life of the city. In 1343 the booty reached Fontebecci and an attempt was made to connect it to the water of the river Staggia, which is the real
Quercegrossa. Since 1344, for the most difficult parts of the excavations, were hired professional miners from
Massa Marittima and
Montieri called
Guerchi that received higher wages than the inexperienced workers Sienese. The first stones of
Fonte Gaia were laid in April 1343, the fountain was consecrated in 1346 (with the water coming from Fontebecci) and then redesigned from 1409 to 1419 by
Jacopo della Quercia. The
Ramo di Uopini was completed in 1387. In order to increase the water quality, between 1437 and 1438, under the Prato di
Porta Camollia, the
Galazzoni were built a system that
removes the impurities from the water by decanting it. These basins are deep and contain at least . After 1466 no significant changes or extensions were made to the main structure of the Bottini system 1438.
From the Florentine conquest of Siena to the unification of Italy The air shafts (
smiragli) outside the city walls proved to be problematic in times of war. Already in the run-up to the Battle of Camollia (1526) the conspirator Lucio Aringhieri tried to bring troops into the city via the Bottini. In the run-up to the
Fiorentine siege (1554–1555), the Bottini began to be walled up in March 1553 so that only water could flow under the barriers. File:BottiniSienaSmiraglioSanBenedettoAcquacalda2.jpg|Shaft (smiraglio) near San Benedetto (Acquacalda district), part of the Bottino di Fonte Gaia File:BottiniSienaSmiraglioFonteNuovaMura4.jpg|Shaft (smiraglio) of Bottino di Fonte Nuova between Porta Camollia and the Barriera San Lorenzo (Le Lupe) on the outer side of the northern city walls of Siena File:BottiniSienaSmiraglioFontebrandaMura2.jpg|Shaft at the drainage canal after the Fontebranda fountain, below and inside the city wall Throughout the period from the surrender of
Siena in 1555 to the entry into operation of the
Vivo aqueduct after the
1st World War,
Siena continued to use the spoils as the only source of water supply. From September 1691, some private individuals demanded and obtained connections to the municipal water supply through wells that collected the water from the gorello: based on how much they paid, they received the relative amount of water, measured by the municipality in "
Dadi". The
dado, also called
forellino, was a small hole in the center of a plate that blocked the junction channel and corresponded to about of water in 24 hours. People could have contracts for 1/2 dado, for 1, 2, 3 dadi, and so on. The oldest planimetric map still in existence dates from 1768 and is now in the Siena State Archives. In July 1825, Giovanni Gani created a connection between the two main canals at an intersection near the
Palazzo dei Diavioli. In order to supply water to the almost dry canal of
Fontegaia, it was taken with two pumps from the canal of
Fontebranda, located twenty meters below. After the waterflow in the Bottino of
Fontegaia normalized, the connection was interrupted again in the same year. This system was used in 1835 and 1851 for the same reasons. In order to cope with the water shortage in the
Fontegaia Canal, restoration work took place from 1851 to 1868, during which several areas of the canal affected by landslides were cleared. The (modernized) pump approach was resumed in 1870 when Vico Bello installed steam pumps. However, these were already moved in 1873 in the direction of the road to
San Domenico; the length of the connecting pipe is . This connection also supplied the area of the
Fortezza Santa Barbara fortress and was active until 1931.
The end of the Bottini as a water supply system for drinking water At the end of the 19th century, the water supply via the Bottini was no longer considered to be sufficient in quantitative and hygienic terms. From 1885, 18 sources were examined, from 1886 the rivers
Arbia,
Elsa and Masellone as well as Bozzone (river), Staggia and Tressa were shortlisted, whether or not they corresponded to the water quality for the city supply. Ultimately, in 1895 the choice fell on the Vivo, which flow from the
Monte Amiata. From just below the source at
Vivo d'Orcia to the city of
Siena, an underground aqueduct was built over the municipal areas of
Castiglione d'Orcia,
Montalcino,
San Quirico d'Orcia (near
Bagno Vignoni) and
Murlo, which is called Acquedotto del Vivo and which today, alongside later supply lines (for example the Ente and
Fiora rivers ), which supplies the city of
Siena with drinking water. The aqueduct reached
Porta San Marco on May 15, 1914, while the inner-city distribution system was completed in 1918. == Fountains ==