18 April. Water and Culture: A View from Rome is the title of a symposium at the American Academy in Rome in collaboration with the Enel Foundation.

Focusing on Rome and central Italy, panellists will touch on important issues relating to water: the role of the law in determining who has access to  water, the use of water as a power source and a sign of power, the importance of infrastructure, the problem of water disasters, and the intersection of water control, economics and shaping society.

Speakers and topics include Gregory Aldrete - Floods in Ancient Rome: The Eternal City Goes Under; Cynthia Bannon - Roman Water Law: Aims and Assessments; Kathryn L. Gleason - Opulent Waters: Landscape Architectural Displays of Water Wealth in Ancient Rome; Katherine Rinne - Trickle down theory in Late-Renaissance and Baroque Rome; Paolo Squatriti - Water Management in Medieval Italy; Frank Snowden - Fascism and the Pontine Marshes.

The event will be held, in English, at Villa Aurelia from 10.30 until 20.00. For details see website.