Flood Signs and 'No Dumping' Notices

 

When taking a walk through Rome's historical districts it is easy to spot old plaques made of marble that are usually set into the walls of private buildings and churches. Most of them are memories of two main problems that the city had to cope with in the past… flooding and garbage.

 

Literary sources contain records of floods in Rome as early as the 5th century BCE. However, during the classic age and throughout the Middle Ages the city was flooded about once every 50-100 years. These days the course of The Tiber is safely enclosed by huge walls constructed in the late 19th century. But in earlier times, when houses were built on the river banks, the city was prone to flooding, sometimes rather severely. Whenever this happened, inscriptions were applied to the city's major buildings in memory of the event, especially if the water had reached a high level.

 

A large number of plaques remain, mostly from the last big one ... 1870.

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Several are next to the entrance to the Basilica Sopra Minerva, just behind the Pantheon.

 

 

"The vengeful waves of the Tiber reached this point. The Wrath of God came to an end thanks to the delivery of the Virgin Mary. December 24, 1598"

 

 

 

On Christmas Night 1598 an exceptional flood of the Tiber covered most of Rome: the water reached Piazza di Spagna and its pressure was such that the new bridge built by Gregory XIII collapsed.

 

 

The level reached by the river is marked by a hand and an inscription near Ospedale di S. Spirito.

 

“In the year 1495, the Tiber on a fine day grew up to this sign on the nonae (5th) of December. Alexander VI Pope – Year III”, a plaque on
the church of Sant’Eustachio, behind the Pantheon.

 

 

 

"Up here grew the Tiber and Rome would have already been completely flooded, had the Virgin not performed here her swift action.”

October 8, 1530

at Sopra Minerva.

“In the year of Our Lord 1422 on St. Andrew’s day the Tiber grew to the top of this plaque. In the time of Pope Martin V, 6th year.”

 … among plaques on the Basilica Sopra Minerva.

 

 

 

The last flood was in 1937.  The Tiber regularly is "in flood" but the city is now protected by the embankments.  The Tiber grew very high in 2008 (below).

 

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"No Dumping" Notices

 

A serious problem for the city was the disposal of garbage. Up to the mid 1800s, for common people as well as for the servants of the rich, it was a general practice to get rid of the household's daily rubbish by throwing it into the streets or going to a nearby square and simply leaving it there. Only when the pile of garbage reached a certain size would a cart come and take it away, but weeks could pass before this happened.

 

On top of this, the city streets had their thick layer of mud and horse-dirt swept off only once every eight days. This job was carried out by jail prisoners who, at regular intervals were taken around Rome's streets in chains.

 

In the late 1600’s a few notices that forbade dumping rubbish, with a threat of fines and corporal punishments for the offenders, began to appear on the walls of some important churches, such as Sant'Agostino, San Carlo in via del Corso, San Teodoro and others.

 

There are reportedly over 150 of these notices scattered about, mostly in the old city around the Pantheon, Navona and Campo dei Fiori.  Usually found just around the corner into smaller lanes.

 

 

“The Honourable President of the Streets forbids anybody to throw litter and make a dump on this spot under the penalties mentioned in the ban published in June 17 1764.” reads a plaque in Vicolo della Toretta, Campo Marzio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“By order of the Honourable President of the Streets it is forbidden for anybody to throw litter by this crossing and its surroundings, under the penalty of 10 scudi, according to the ban published on July 14 1733. The dumps are two at Carrozze Street and near the Barcaccia fountain and in Serena Lane.”
This in Via Mario de Fiori, near the Spanish Steps.