Water conduits (gutter) 2

Thomas Staub

The rain and fountain water from the peristyle were disposed of in different ways. The water from the southern and western porticoes flowed down the channel to a cistern mouth in the eastern portico. The water from the fountain in the centre of the peristyle garden was also led to the channel through a sewer, equipped with simple purification pits. There seem to have been two phases in this system as well: an earlier sewer channel leading towards the channel of the southern portico was later blocked by the new one leading instead towards channel of the eastern portico. A plausible explanation for this rearrangement might be found in the larger amount of water that had to be led away after the new fountains in the east portico were installed. The water from the new channel enters the channel north of the opening to the cistern. Thus excess water in the southern channel from the east, south and central fountains could be avoided. To the north of the cistern mouth an overflow gutter leads from the channel towards the Vicolo di Cecilio Giocondo, so that when the cistern was full, the water could be drained into the street.