Maria Grazia D’Amelio and Lorenzo Grieco

Gunshots, wind, melodies, water jets and bubbling: hydraulic valves for the Teatro delle Acque of Aldobrandini in

Maria Grazia D’Amelio1 and Lorenzo Grieco2 1. Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, ; 2. Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Rome

Despite the size of the bibliography on the iconology of nymphaea and water theatres in the Italian built between the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, studies on the hydraulic systems of giochi di acqua (the hydraulic systems used to make water games and jokes) are still scarce. The complexity in the design of giochi di acqua is suggested by the increases in technical treatises on the subject in the period, such as those of Giovan Battista Aleotti (1605-19, also translator of Gli Artificiosi e curiosi moti spiritali d’Herrone Alessandrino) and Francesco Fontana (1696) [1]. Architectural and hydraulic projects were indeed inextricably connected, not only technically, as we would expect, but also compositionally, since water, in all its several shapes (tubes, nozzles, blades, weir terminals, etc.), changed the optical, auditory and even olfactory perception of the sites. While it normally consisted of sculptures, vegetation and , accompanied by an incessant dripping, on great occasions water theatres sprang to life to amaze, terrify, amuse the guests. They became the scenography of spirited plays combining mythological tales, melodies, mechanical chirping birds, substances dissolved in the water, jets, bubbles and pinwheels (girandole) of water, sudden frightening noises, fire and smoke, wind and impertinent jokes of water, according to a fixed repertoire that was recurrent in the villas built in that period [2]. Nowadays such fountains, often deprived of water (which, although vital, is also a cause of degradation), are a pale image of their original magnificence. The exuberant effects animating the fountains, and the few iconographical sources, were recorded in detail in the descriptions made by travellers between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries (such as that of Lawson, dating to 1915-20) and in precious archival documents [3].

In the brief caption commenting on the etching (1675) of the Gran Teatro dell’Acque of Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati, Giovan Battista Falda described the water features and the acoustic devices of the nymphaeum. In the middle of the hemicycle forming the ‘theatre’, the imposing statue of the titan Atlas held up the celestial sphere, represented by a perforated bronze sphere from which water spurted out, emitting “impetuously swirling water with thunder [4] (Fig.1)”. Incidentally, a few decades before the construction of the , in 1546 a roman marble of the second century AD, portraying Atlas, had been unearthed in the Baths of Caracalla. Known as the ‘Farnese Atlas’, it was evidently a main inspiration for the iconography of the statue in the nymphaeum. To the left of Atlas, in the last niche of the hemicycle, stood the cyclops Polyphemus “playing the flute whose sound is due to the wind pushed by the water”. On the right, in front of Polyphemus, a centaur played a buccina, an ancient wind instrument used for military signals, making a noise which was said to be audible from four miles away. The instrument is now missing but it was still present in the 1960s, as testified by some photographs. The engraving even shows the "Stairway, and cascade of water, which falls into the theatre going down with various games" and "other sources and different water games, which suddenly wet the viewers", entertaining the guests.

287 Gunshots, wind, melodies, water jets and bubbling: hydraulic valves for the Teatro delle Acque of Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati

Fig. 1 G. B. Falda, Gran Teatro dell’Acque di Villa Aldobrandini di Belvedere a Frascati, etching, 1675.

A few decades earlier, in 1647, Dominique Barrière had published a volume with all the fountains and water features of Villa Aldobrandini [5]. The work described the existence of crossed spurts of water (spilli), both above the steps of the South-East entrance to the villa, and near the basin of the so called ‘fountain of the Shepherds’, as well as the wonders in the room of the Muses, also said ‘room of the Winds [6]’. The complex iconography of the theatre, the descriptions made by the European visitors who stopped in Frascati and, above all, the current dry status of the fountains only give a hint of the complex narrative and of the advanced technology of the hydraulic system. Commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini and built between 1603 and 1621, the nymphaeum was designed by , Giovanni Fontana and Orazio Olivieri. The latter also designed the hydraulic systems of Villa d'Este in Tivoli, where he realized the first automata (1566-69), inspired by the hidraulos and the machines described by Hero of Alexandria. The fountains of the Teatro delle Acque of villa Aldobrandini were habitually wet by water falling by gravity and were regulated by a series of hydraulic valves. Located in the area, the system could operate in a regular service or in a “special” mode, opening jets and sudden jokes and activating sound machines, according to a script which changed depending on the occasion. An evidence of such practice is the narration of the English Roman Catholic priest Richard Lassels, who described how, during his visit to the villa (in the 1650s), the gardener actioned the stopcocks of the “sounding fountains”, using a definition of Aleotti [7].

The Aldobrandini Archive in Frascati preserves an eighteenth-century copy of a document drawn up after the construction of the Teatro delle Acque. It consists of a detailed Descrizione antica delli chiusini e chiavi che regolavano i giuochi d’acqua e le fontane di Villa Belvedere (from here on: Descrizione) [8]. The document testified the original status of the hydraulic system, hardly retraceable to-day, which was regulated through 72 hydraulic valves distributed in 22 manholes (Fig.2). The term chiavi (keys) stood for valves placed inside

288 Maria Grazia D’Amelio and Lorenzo Grieco manholes (chiusini), opened through iron levers with forked ends, like the more recent tools still in use in Frascati (Fig.3). The Descrizione was to be used by the fontanieri (fountainiers, the role still exists) and their assistants, who promptly turned the valves on as a guest wandered through the garden.

Fig. 2 D. Barrière, Plan of villa Aldobrandini, from Fig. 3 Iron levers with forked ends currently in use in Villa Aldobrandina tvscvlana siue uarij illius villa Aldobrandini, photo L. Grieco, 2020. hortorum et fontium prospectus, Roma, 1647, f. 22.

The description can be compared to a similar inventory, dated 1757 but a copy of a previous sixteenth-century document, entitled Nota delle chiavi, e bronzine d’ottone (from here on Nota) to power the caves, fountains, water jokes and automata of the Medici villa of Pratolino. The Nota proves the diffusion of the practice of drawing up a list of the chiavi, necessary to operate with the hydraulic system. The Nota, which was accompanied by a plan, listed 172 hydraulic stopcocks and 23 bushings (valves for bleeding the pipes). The valves powered the games or the complex automatisms: for instance, in front of the of the Stove, there were two stopcocks, “one is used to give water to the trabocchetto […] under the window, and the other is used to wet who touches the bronze figure on the top of said window [9].” The figure portrayed a “gracious copper-made putto who invites people to come closer; but if, while approaching, someone unexpectedly touches with the feet a certain device [it was the so-called trabocchetto, a moveable stone which activated a jet], he will suddenly get wet, the same will happen if somebody curious lifts the putto [10].” In the case of villa Aldobrandini, the Descrizione has proved an invaluable technical aid in enabling the location of the position of the controls in the area and, by interlacing it with other sources, to reconstruct the original functioning of the nymphaeum. Without it the operation would be hard, given the destructions of the original hydraulic system and of a consistent part of the sculptures, the incongruous restorations and the Allied bombing on the 8th of September 1943.

289 Gunshots, wind, melodies, water jets and bubbling: hydraulic valves for the Teatro delle Acque of Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati The theatre required the construction of a dedicated aqueduct to bring the waters, from the source of Acqua Algida, six miles away on the Monte Fiora alla Molara (currently in the territory of Rocca Priora), 580 meters above sea level, till the villa, at an altitude of 428 meters above sea level [11]. The flow rate of the aqueduct was 60 ounces (about 1800 litres of water per minute) in the dry season and 300 ounces in winter and spring. Part of the water, once it arrived in the villa, descended into three fountains at different altitudes above the nymphaeum, another part was conveyed into a surviving Roman cistern, consisting of two vaulted chambers 40 m in length [12].

The reading of the document confirms that on a normal day many of the fountains functioned partially. Only on special occasions where the fountains were fully opened to show the splendour of their effects. Proceeding from the top to the bottom of the park, the first water feature was the ‘Rustic fountain’, set immediately after the outcrop of the water. Near the fountain, there were two copper manholes, each with two valves to open the nozzles of the side niches and of the masks, now disappeared but visible in the engraving by Barrière [13] (Fig.4).

Fig. 4 D. Barrière, The Rustic fountain, in Villa Aldobrandina tvscvlana siue uarij illius hortorum et fontium prospectus, Roma, 1647, f. 10.

The second fountain was the so-called ‘fountain of the Shepherds’, destroyed in 1943. Placed at a lower level than the first fountain, it was perpetually bathed by the central jet that fell from above. Behind it two manholes controlled seven valves which were actioned only during receptions. They supplied water to two mouths in each of the niches with the statues of the shepherds, to two stars that marked the ends of the imperial staircase; “two to the sits and the steps, and a large one goes to the gushes coming out the rock of said fountain [14].” The latter opened the nozzles hidden among the steps of the staircase, in the benches of the hemicycle, along the border of

290 Maria Grazia D’Amelio and Lorenzo Grieco the basin. It was activated suddenly to wet the guests, as seen in the engravings of Barrière and Falda and in the drawings of Nicodemus Tessin the Younger [15] (Fig.5).

Fig.5 D. Barrière, The fountain of the Shepherds, in Villa Aldobrandina tvscvlana siue uarij illius hortorum et fontium prospectus, Roma, 1647, f. 9.

Next to the third fountain above the Theatre, indicated in the documents as the second ‘rustic fountain’, there was a manhole with three valves commanding the jets and the "sails", i.e. the two fan-shaped lateral jets falling on the rocaille [16]. There was also a second manhole with two stopcocks. One gave water to the Solomonic ionic columns, cladded in mosaic, nine meters tall and drilled at the top for the exit of two jets (rampoli), one of which boiled and then flew on a helical channel along the shaft. The other gave water for “the gushes of the piazza of said columns”, visible in the drawings of Tessin [17] (Fig.6). At the foot of the columns there were two manholes, each with a big valve, which opened the spurts in the steps at the side of the so-called ‘water staircase’, which was the axis of the composition, with eight steps flanked by two chains of incessantly sprayed water.[18] An accurate drawing of Tessin reproduces both the spurts and the square manholes, of about 80 cm per side, offset from the columns [19] (Fig.7). Cordonate with jets of water and artificial cascades with steps were recurring elements in the villas of Lazio: they enriched, for instance, the villas Orsini in Bomarzo, Farnese in Caprarola, Lante in Bagnaia, Torlonia in Frascati and Este in Tivoli.

291 Gunshots, wind, melodies, water jets and bubbling: hydraulic valves for the Teatro delle Acque of Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati

Fig. 6: N. Tessin the Younger, Section of the Cascades in the Gardens of the Villa Aldobrandini, pen and ink on paper, 1667, Stockholm, National Museum, NMH THC 240.

Fig. 7: N. Tessin the Younger, Plan of the Cascades in the Gardens of the Villa Aldobrandini, pen and ink on paper, 1667, Stockholm, National Museum, NMH THC 241.

292 Maria Grazia D’Amelio and Lorenzo Grieco

In villa Aldobrandini water fell along the steps and arrived in a square basin. At its bottom, water passed through "a copper grill, which gives water to the sail of Atlas, close to it there is a thick conduit, which carries water to the mountain of said Atlas [20].” On ordinary days the central niche was enriched by a shower, while Atlas was wetted by a veil of water spilling from a long slit at the base of the globe. When guests arrived, the gardener opened “a big stopcock that gives the water to the spouts of the ball” and two ducts, which fed the girandola (pinwheel), a well-known water game, ever present in Renaissance villas [21]. Documents testify that the pinwheel designed by Olivieri could emit a powerful jet whose height varied, according to the sources, between 10 and 16 meters. Aleotti described the pinwheel as an acoustic device without musical effects: it rather imitated the roar of fireworks (similar to the girandole of Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome, from the sixteenth century) or pieces of artillery.[22] It consisted of a bundle with different jets, arranged around a large nozzle, rising impetuously. The final effect was that of a liquid pyramid, which, “by means of enclosed air, imitates thunder, rain, the snow [23].” Francesco Milizia described it as follows: “making the water flow out circularly with impetus, so that the air, which comes out simultaneously, produces a noise imitating that of fireworks [24].” At villa Aldobrandini the pinwheel in the basin of Atlas arose from the bust of Enceladus (or maybe Typhon). Emerging from the rocks under which he was buried during the gigantomachy, the giant’s face peeks out, its current form is the result of some restorations after the Second World War. His open mouth originally emitted a powerful jet of water [25]. From such height, water fell back in the basin making foam and such a pouring noise that, in 1645, John Evelyn affirmed that its "representation of a storm is most natural, with such fury of rain, wind and thunder, as one would imagine oneself in some extreme tempest [26]." Similarly, between 1660 and 1661, Grangier de Liverdis wrote: “La Girandole qui sort de terre avec tant d'effort que l'eau se converte en escume, et le plus fort de sa colère passé, elle tome comme de la greste, et enfin finit en pluye, aprés avoir fait un bruit qui imitate la foudre. Là d’un bassin tout proche sortent de la terre par dessus l'eau des Testes et des Mains. Ce sont de ce Geans qui furent precipitez [27]”.

In addition, the semi-circular poly-lobed basin was populated by sea monsters which were animated by two stopcocks, on the sides of the large basin of theatre. Nearby, two other large valves opened the jets of the fountains in the two niches on the sides of Atlas.

A corridor concentric to the hemicycle, now partly inspectable (Fig.8), accommodated another 22 stopcocks. A small room behind the cyclops Polyphemus (in last niche on the left of Atlas) housed five valves: “one goes to the zampilli around the shell, the other to the Dolphins, above the sails, which are behind these figures, and a small one goes to the rain in front of said cyclops, and another small one provides water to turn the wheels of said cyclops to make him sound [28].” They supplied water to now-disappeared sculptures and to Polyphemus, which was originally conceived as a musical statue [29]. The statue, with a structure in terracotta and iron bars covered by painted stucco, shaped by Jacques Sarrazin around 1620, played a 12-barreled syringe. Originally made of lead, the pan flute was connected to a device consisting of a vertical duct that introduced a water-air emulsion inside the so-called ‘hall of the Wind’. There the water and wind were separated. Passed through a paddle wheel and a gear system, calculated in order to obtain a low rotation speed, water set in motion a musical cylinder, similar to those of carillons, opening of the valves located at the mouth of each of the organ pipes. The pressurized air, separated from the mixture, entered some torches and emitted melodies. One of the musical pieces has been recently identified in the Ballo del Ciclope di Frascati, whose score is in the public library of Braga, in Portugal [30]. In front of Polyphemus stood another sounding machine: the Centaur playing the whelk who, along with some dolphins, the jets and a veil of water, was operated by four stopcocks in a manhole. In the room adjacent to the niche, known as the ‘snail’ for its spiral staircase reaching the hemicycle terrace, there was “a tank, where there are three big cocks; one carries the wind to the organ (of Apollo's room), one the wind to the cyclops, and the other the wind to the centaur”. It was evidently part of the mixed pneumatic/hydraulic system powering the mechanisms [31].

293 Gunshots, wind, melodies, water jets and bubbling: hydraulic valves for the Teatro delle Acque of Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati

Fig. 8: The corridor behind the nymphaeum, photo L. Grieco, 2020

In the semi-circular corridor there were other 13 valves supplying water to fountains, to the small boats in plaster (the barchette), and to the statuary group of the lion and the boar. Five other valves brought water to the “staircase of the building, and another to the garden fountain” and to the Fons leonis cum tigris pugnantis [32]. The fountain of the lion was one of the most surprising: "the lion seems to have almost won the tiger by keeping a paw on its shoulders and while he makes a semblance of wanting to bite it, pulling out his red tongue, a splash of water comes out from its mouth, so powerfully that it rises up to the level of the frame of the theatre […] as someone goes to drink from the lion’s jet, the tiger splashes another jet of water against the lion and hits the face of the drinker, who, wanting to escape from many jets, which are hidden around the border, instead of washing the mouth and cooling off inside, he is washed outside and refreshed more than he would like [33].” The mechanism animating it also produced acoustic effects, as confirmed by the description of Johann G. Keyssler (1730): “Near this statue [Atlas] are a tyger and lion fighting, and the water issuing from the mouth and nostrils of the former exactly imitates the snarling of that animal when enraged [34].” The Descrizione recorded the presence of the coat of arms of Clement VIII: “Behind the arms of our lord there is a manhole, where there are three cocks, one goes around the zampilli, the other to the cocks of the arms and the other to the papal tiara, and the return of the triregnum goes to the three bars [the heraldic label] of the coat of arms [35]”. Absent in the engravings of Barrière and Falda, it is difficult to detect where the coat of arms was located, and if it was in relief or in mosaic.

Underneath the Roman cistern, at the height of the spiral columns “there is another cock, which is used to supply water to the conserva of the hall of Apollo" and, in that room, there were two stopcocks to open spouts and a fountain. Water and wind infused life into the room, whose ceiling was painted with a pergola populated by birds and small mammals. On the back wall there was (and still is) a gigantic mountain made of wood and stucco: a domestic Parnassus (1615-18) with statues, made by Giovanni Anguilla and Jacques Sarrazin, portraying the nine muses playing wind instruments and Apollo with the lyre. In unison, with the sound of the organ in the background, they sang melodies, engraved on the phonotactic cylinder of the hydraulic organ hidden behind the mountain, including the famous “Aria del organ di Frascati” attributed to Bernardo Pasquini. The sound of the

294 Maria Grazia D’Amelio and Lorenzo Grieco lyre of the god was emitted by a psaltery, operated by a cylinder, and its small paddle wheel rotated by a jet of pressure water coming from the wind reserve. At the base of the mountain, Pegasus emerged from a crack, next to the Hippocrene source which he had brought forth with a blow of his hoof (Fig.9). Mechanical cuckoos and nightingales completed the phonic part of the instrument [36]. In the centre of the room, surprising the visitors, a hollow copper ball was suspended in the air about 1 meter from the ground. The ball was raised by a powerful breath of air coming from the “conserva del vento” through an hole in the floor, opened in the centre of an Aldobrandini star [37]. In addition, deceptions of water and wind, coming out of almost invisible holes, hit the guests.

Fig. 9: G. B. Falda, Stanza de Venti nel Teatro di Belvedere di Frascati, etching from La Fontane di Roma nelle Piazze e Luoghi Publici, part 2, plate 7, 1691. 295 Gunshots, wind, melodies, water jets and bubbling: hydraulic valves for the Teatro delle Acque of Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati The Descrizione of the hydraulic commands of villa Aldobrandini (similarly to the Nota for the Medici Villa in Pratolino) is a precious document to reconstruct, even descriptively, the water games of the nymphaeum, destroyed by time, by men, and by the action of water itself (Fig.10). Moreover, it can be a valid instrument for a future restoration of the original configuration of the nymphaeum, as well as an important resource for further comparisons aiming at investigating the refined applications of early modern hydraulic engineering.

Fig. 10: View of the nymphaeum, photo L. Grieco, 2020.

Appendix

Descrizione antica delli chiusini e chiavi che regolavano i giuochi d’acqua e le fontane di Villa Belvedere in Frascati, Frascati, Archivio Aldobrandini, Acque, Tomo 7/49

Inventario Antico dei Condotti della Villa Belvedere

Dietro la Fontana Rustica, ci sono due chiusini di rame: dentro detti chiusini ci sono due chiavi per parte due ne vanno alle nicchie e due alli mascheroni _n° 4

Alla Fontana dello Stradone, che va alli Cappuccini, sopra detta fontana ci sono due chiusini: in detti chiusini vi sono sette chiavi; due vanno alle Stelle, due vanno alle statue dei Pastori, due alli Seditori e Scalini, ed una grossa va alli Zampilli dello Scoglio di detta Fontana _n° 7

296 Maria Grazia D’Amelio and Lorenzo Grieco

Alla Fontana rustica innanzi alle colonne, sopra detta Fontana vi è un chiusino, ove sono tre chiavi, le quali vanno alli due zampilli di detta fontana, cioè ogni due zampilli vi è una chiave, e l’altra và alle vele _n° 3

Di fianco alla detta fontana rustica vi è un altro chiusino, in cui sono due chiavi, una va alle Colonne, l’altra alli zampilli della piazza di dette Colonne, l’altra alli Zampilli della piazza di dette colonne _n° 2

A piedi di dette Colonne ci sono due chiusini, con una chiave per chiusino grossa, che dà l’acqua alli Zampilli della Catena _n° 2

A piedi di detta catena, cioè nella vasca vi è da una parte una gratella di rame, che dà l’acqua alla vela dell’atlante, vicino a detta gratella vi è un condotto grosso, che porta l’acqua al monte di detto atlante, in detto loco vi è una chiave grossa che da l’acqua alli Zampilli della palla, in detta vasca da un’altra banda ci sono due condotti, che danno l’acqua alla girandola _n° 1

Nel vascone grande del teatro, cioè dalle bande ci sono due chiavi per parte, la grande dà l’acqua alle nicchie, che sono vicino alla fontana di atlante, e l’altra dà l’acqua alli mostri marini, che sono in detta vasca _n° 4

Alla fontana del Ciclope, cioè dietro alla medesima vi è uno stanziolino, dove sono cinque chiavi, una va alli Zampilli attorno alla conchiglia, l’altra alli Delfini, sopra le vele, che sono dietro a dette figure, ed una picciola và alla pioggia d’innanzi a detto ciclopo, ed una altra piccola dà l’acqua per far voltare le rote di detto ciclopo per farlo sonare _n° 5

Alla fontana del Centauro dietro la medesima vi è un chiusino dove sono quattro chiavi, una và alli Zampilli della conchiglia, l’altra dietro le statue, l’altra alli delfini, e d una piccola va alla pioggia d’innanzi al Centauro _n°4

Nel detto Corritore ci sono quattro chiavi, cioè da una parte; una va alla Stanzetta (????) l’altra al porco cignale, l’altra alli Zampilli di fuori, ed un’altra dà l’acqua alla nicchietta dove si piglia l’acqua _n° 4

In detto corritore da un’altra parte ci sono cinque chiavi, una và al Leone, l’altra alla Tigre, l’altra alli Zampilli, intorno al Leone, l’altra alla Scala del palazzo, ed un’altra alla fontana del giardino _n° 5

Da una parte di detto corridore vi saranno le chiavi, che vanno alle barchette, ove saranno quattro chiavi, una per barchetta, ed una al Ciclopo, ed un’altra al Centauro _n° 4

Dietro all’alme di N. Signore vi è un chiusino, ove sono tre chiavi, una và attorno li Zampilli, l’altra alle chiave dell’Arma e l’altra al Triregno, e il ritorno del regno va alle tre Sbarne (????) dello scudo dell’arma _n° 3

Alla conserva, che è al piano delle Colonne, vi è un pozzo, in cui sono due chiavi grosse; una và alli Zampilli della palla, un’altra all’arme di Nostro Signore _n° 2

A piedi di detta conserva v’è un’altra chiave, che serve per mandare l’acqua alla conserva della stanza di Apollo_n° 1

297 Gunshots, wind, melodies, water jets and bubbling: hydraulic valves for the Teatro delle Acque of Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati Nel Teatro dalla banda della Lumaca, dove sono li giochi, nell’entrare di detta Lumaca vi è un bottino, ove sono tre chiavi grosse; una porta il vento all’organo, una il vento al Ciclope, e l’altra il vento al Centauro _n° 3

Nella stanza di Apollo, cioè nell’entrare dentro l’organo ci sono due chiavi, una dà l’acqua alli Zampilli della stanza, l’altra al bollore della fontanina _n° 2

Nel giardino d’innanzi alla fontana ci è un bottino con una chiave, che serve per dare, e levare l’acqua a detta Fontana _n° 1

Nel Palazzo, cioè nelle cucine, nella cucina seconda ci sono due chiavi, che servono per pigliare l’acqua; all’altra cucina ci sono tre chiavi, una serve al lavatore, l’altra serve per pigliar l’acqua, l’altra per empire le caldare _n° 3

Dietro detta cucina ci è una chiave, che serve per li luoghi communi _n° 1

Alle due fontane delle barchette, che sono dai fianchi del Palazzo, sopra dette fontane ci sono due chiusini ne quali sono quattro chiavi per parte; una va alle nicchie da basso in detta fontana; una và alla nicchia di contro, due altre danno l’acqua alli sgorghi che sono di dentro a detta fontana, in tutto _n° 8

Alla Fontanona in capo allo Stradone, sopra detta fontana vi è un bottino, in cui sono due chiavi, che danno l’acqua alli mascheroni, che sono da basso; vi è ancora una gratella che dà l’acqua a tutti li bollori, che sono in detta fontana, ci sono anche due condotti, uno de quali dà l’acqua alli Delfini, l’altro al bollore di mezzo di detta fontana _n° 2

Acknowledgments

A special thanks to the Prince Camillo Aldobrandini for having permitted our exploration of the hydraulic system of the nymphaeum in villa Aldobrandini. We owe thanks to Antonella Fabriani Rojas for her generous help in the research.

References

[1] G. B. Aleotti, De la scienza et arte del ben regollar l’acque (…). Libro sesto. Nel quale si dimostran’alcune piacevolezze le quali si possono fare artificiosamente con l’acque (1605-1619), in M. Rossi (Ed.), Modena: Franco Cosimo Panini, 2000; F. Fontana, Utilissimo trattato delle acque, Roma: Francesco Buagni, 1696. Among others, the subject was investigated by Salomon de Caus and Athanasius Kircher. [2] K. Schwager, ‘Kardinal Pietro Aldobrandinis Villa di Belvedere in Frascati’, Römisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte, 9/10.1961/62, 1962, pp. 353-354; C. D’Onofrio, La Villa Aldobrandini di Frascati, Roma: Staderini, 1963; H. Hibbard, Carlo Maderno and Roman Architecture 1580-1630, London: Zwemmer, 1971, Italian translation Carlo Maderno, Milano: Electa 2001, pp. 164-171. [3] E. G. Lawson, Continuum of Classicism, New York: James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation, 2012. [4] D. Barrière, Villa Aldobrandina Tuscolana siue uarij illius Hortorum et Fontium prospectus, Roma, 1647, pl.. [5] ibid.

298 Maria Grazia D’Amelio and Lorenzo Grieco

[6] See the etching of Israel Silvestre (1650), from L. Devoti, La villa Belvedere Aldobrandini di Frascati, Velletri: Tra 8&9, 1990, p. 108. [7] R. Lassels, The Voyage of , or a Compleat Journey through Italy, Paris: Vincent du Moutier, 1670, pp. 308-312; Aleotti, (Note 1). [8] Frascati, Archivio Aldobrandini (A.A.), Descrizione antica delli chiusini e chiavi che regolavano i giuochi d’acqua e le fontane di Villa Belvedere, Acque, Tomo 7/49, partially published in D’Onofrio, (Note 2), pp. 142-143. [9] Nota delle chiavi e bronzine d’ottone che sono per tutto il corso de’ Condotti che portano l’acqua all’Imperial Villa di Pratolino, sue grotte, fontane e scherzi d’acqua etc., NA, RAT, 307, cc. 23-32v, from L. Zangeri, Pratolino. Il giardino delle meraviglie, 2 vols, Firenze: Gonnelli, 1979, vol. 1, doc. 63, pp. 248-253. [10] B.S. Sgrilli, Descrizione della Regia Villa, Fontane, e Fabbriche di Pratolino, Firenze: Tartini e Franchi, 1742, pp. 14-15. [11] Devoti, (Note 6), p. 120; Barrière, (Note 4) pl. 22, n. 15. [12] Barrière, (Note 4), pl. 22, n. 12. [13] ibid., pl. 10 ; pl. 22, n. 14. [14] A.A., (Note 8); Barrière, (Note 4) pl. 22, n. 14. [15] Barrière, (Note 4) pl. 9; Falda 1684, from D'Onofrio, (Note 2), fig. 72; for the drawings of Tessin: NM H THC 420-421, 242, from M. Olin, L. Henriksson, Nicodemus Tessin the Younger: Sources – Works – Collections, vol. 4, Architectural Drawings I, Ecclesiastical and Garden Architecture, Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, 2004, pp. 229-230. [16] Falda 1684, from D'Onofrio (Note 2), fig. 73; see also the drawing by Tessin: NM H THC 753, from Olin, Henriksson, (Note 15), p. 230. [17] A.A., (Note 8); NM H THC 240 and 767, from Olin, Henriksson, (Note 13), p. 227; D’Onofrio, (Note 2), fig. 86. [18] Falda 1684, from D'Onofrio (Note 2), fig. 78. [19] NM H THC 241 and NM H CC 2744, from Olin, Henriksson, (Note 13), p. 226. [20] AA, Acque, 7/49 (Note 8). [21] ibid. [22] Aleotti, (Note 1). [23] B. Belidor, Architettura idraulica ovvero arte di condurre, innalzare e regolare le acque pei vari bisogni della vita, Mantova: Fratelli Negretti, 1837, volume 2, p. 288. [24] F. Milizia, Opere complete di Francesco Milizia risguardanti le belle arti, Bologna: Cardinali e Frulli, 1827, volume II, p. 5. [25] Devoti, (Note 6), p. 121. [26] P. Barbieri, Organi idraulici e statue ‘che suonano’ delle ville Aldobrandini (Frascati) e Pamphilj (Roma), Monte Parnaso, Ciclope, Centauro e Fauno, in L’Organo. Rivista di cultura organaria e organistica, XXIV, 2001 (but published in 2002), p. 18. [27] ibid. [28] A.A., (Note 8). [29] Falda from D'Onofrio (Note 2), fig. 82; Aleotti, (Note 1), Teorema XXIII. [30] Among the many studies: Barbieri, (Note 26), pp. 5-175; Biblioteca Pública Braga, Ms. 964, c. 254, cited in P. Barbieri, ‘Ancora sulla «Fontana dell’Organo» di Tivoli e altri automata sonori degli Este (1576-1619)’, L’Organo. Rivista di cultura organaria e organistica, XXXVII, 2004 (published in 2005), pp. 187-221; on automata see also: S. A. Bedini, ‘The Role of Automata in the History of Technology’, Technology and

299 Gunshots, wind, melodies, water jets and bubbling: hydraulic valves for the Teatro delle Acque of Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati

Culture, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Winter, 1964), pp. 24-42; A. Ditsche, Klingende Wasser, Berlin and Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2017, pp. 128-131; J. Keating, Animating Empire: Automata, the Holy Roman Empire and the Early Modern World, University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019. [31] A.A., (Note 8). [32] ibid. [33] Devoti, (note 6), p. 129. [34] Barbieri 2002, (Note 26), p. 19. [35] A.A., (Note 8). [36] Barbieri 2002, (Note 26), p. 15. [37] G. Pinarolo, L’antichità di Roma con le cose più memorabili, 2 Vols, Roma: Antonio de Rossi, 1703, Vol. 2, p. 259.

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