Do you know all the rivers in Rome?

That may seem like a trick question, but it really isn’t! When you visit Rome, of course you learn that the river passing through the center is called the Tiber, and that it’s one of Italy’s major bodies of water. But do you know that it is not the only river in the city? Far from it, actually!

This post will serve as an introduction to the other rivers of Rome. While some of them are now underground (read on! buildings were erected over them in modern times), some are easily reachable and shine a different light on the history (and the geography) of the Urbs Aeterna.

The river Aniene: history and nature

The Aniene is Rome’s second largest river – in spite of its course being only around 100 kilometers long. While it rises in the Frosinone territory, locals associate it with the city of Tivoli because of the spectacular waterfalls it forms there.

As a matter of fact, if you’ve visited Tivoli to get to Villa d’Este or Villa Adriana/Hadrian’s Villa you may have caught a glimpse of those, or the river, by the train station. Additionally, the fountains in Villa D’Este are supplied with the waters from the river itself!

Aniene is a river that goes by many names. Just before it ends its run into the Tiber proper, it is still called “Teverone” by some older locals (literally “Big Tiber”). Its original name was actually Parensius (“Parenzio” if Latin is not your forte) but it changed to Aniene to honor the ancient Etruscan king Anio, who according to legend drowned in the river searching for his kidnapped daughter.

You can see the river Aniene by reaching the Conca D’Oro subway station, where a nice community park called “Parco delle Valli” flanks part of it.

From there, it’s a short walk to Via Nomentana Vecchia, the Città Giardino neighborhood and the astounding, Roman-era Ponte Nomentano (AKA Ponte Vecchio, “the old bridge). You can clearly see how it was reinforced in Medieval times – it was crossed by Charlemagne himself. The river is today part of a huge park which is home to rare birds and plants.

The river Almone: the Roman “Ganges”

Even if it’s just less than 20 kilometers long (it rises in the Alban Hills and flows to the southern districts of the Urbs Aeterna), the river Almone was of great importance to the ancient Romans.

Its name recalls one of Aeneas’ fellow fugitives from Troy, which means it was crucial to the founding myth of the city, and had been used for purifying ceremonies since the Punic Wars. It doesn’t look like much today, thanks to the massive urban development in the areas it crosses, but you can see a close-to-the-original version of the Almone by taking a walk along the ancient Appian Way (the river flows by the former “Cartiera Latina” paper mill) and in the Caffarella park.

The “marrane”: the underground rivers of Rome

If you take a closer look at the street names in Rome, you will see that some words tend to appear multiple times, one of them being “marrana” (alternatively spelled as “marana” or “maranella“). They all owe their name to the “Acqua Mariana” canal, excavated under Pope Calixtus II in 1122 to bring fresh water to the city which had lost most of its water supply due to the barbarian invasions.

The original Acqua Mariana flowed through the Porta Metronia gate (a whole 5 minutes walk from our accommodation at Via Gallia!), reached the Circus Maximus and then the Cloaca Maxima.

It is still there to this day, but it ended being underground due to the overflowing of the river Tiber, the accumulation of silt and debris and the – again – massive urban developments in modern eras. It was a short step from “Mariana” (“dedicated to the Virgin Mary”) to “Marana”, and eventually “marana” or “marrana” came to identify all underground rivers in Rome.

The most important marrane (there are over a dozen of them) are located below the San Giovanni subway station (which is probably part of the original Acqua Mariana); in the Tor Pignattara district (the “Via della Marranella” street is a dead giveaway!); in the Grotta Perfetta/Ardeatino district (while the river itself is not visible, its effects are noticeable in the Viale Giustiniano Imperatore/Via Alessandro Severo area, where buildings tilt due to the river passing below them.