November 7, 2008: Hiking the Big Aqueduct

We had paritally hiked this aqueduct, but since it rained that day, we postponed going further up the hill. Today, the weather offered an opportunity to hike longer. Also, after yesterday's hard climb it made sense to climb to 420m. on foot at a slower, less demanding pace. The aqueduct is a true marvel. It was order built by Maria Luisa of Bourbone in 1822. Why, we really don't know, since it seems to us a ditch would have done the same job. Yet, this humongous project has the aqueduct up so high and approximately 3-4 km long. The arches are so big that local paved roads allow cars to drive across without a problem. It is only interrupted where the autostrada had to be built. The municipality built an overhead walkway to allow foot traffic along the entire length. Now, the engineer who had built this marvel was Lorenzo Nottolini. This water diversion system includes embankments, canals, inspection houses, screens to filter water, a holding tank, mini dams, stairs, and foot bridges. Walking along this project takes one into fantasy land, or something like a video game. We just loved it. At the source, the trail continues up the hills through magnificent chestnut forest broken up here and there by small hamlets with olive trees, pine, and vineyards. We hiked up about 10 km enjoying great views of valleys below before retuning back to Lucca.