The Pont d’Ael aqueduct
A private aqueduct above the Grand Eyvia gorge, signed by its builder
Pont d’Ael (Pondel) is a hamlet of Aymavilles, at the entrance to the Cogne valley. At the end of the village, a Roman bridge crosses the gorge of the Grand Eyvia, high above the torrent. It was built in 3 BC and can still be crossed on foot.
A channel and a passage
The structure has two levels. On top ran a channel that carried water. This channel is now used as a walkway. Below it, a covered passage allowed people and animals to cross the gorge under shelter.
What the inscription says
A Latin inscription is carved on the north face of the bridge. It gives three pieces of information:
- the date: the year in which Augustus was designated for his thirteenth consulship, that is 3 BC;
- the builder: Caius Avillius Aimus, from Padua;
- the nature of the work: it is private (privatum).
So the bridge was built not by the Roman state but by a private individual. The inscription does not say what the water was used for. It is often thought that it supplied stone quarries near Aymavilles.
The Avillii family
The region had only just been conquered. Augusta Prætoria, present-day Aosta, had been founded in 25 BC by Augustus. Its name combines the emperor’s name with that of the praetorians, the soldiers of his guard, some of whose veterans were settled in the new town. The Romans were interested in the valley’s resources, in particular the stone from the quarries of Aymavilles and Villeneuve.
The Avillii were a family of entrepreneurs from Padua. They are credited with making bricks. Members of the family are also thought to have traded, notably in slaves, on the Greek island of Delos. Other inscriptions found near Aymavilles mention freedmen of the family, that is, former slaves who had been set free. They show that the Avillii were well established in the area.
Names derived from it
The bridge is sometimes called “Pons Avilli”, the bridge of Avillius. The name of Aymavilles is also said to come from this family, but this is only a hypothesis.
Pont d’Ael aqueduct bridge
Frazione Pondel
11010 AYMAVILLES (AO)
Telephone: (+39) 0165 902252
Telephone: (+39) 0165 274363
Website: valledaostaheritage.com/ponte-acquedotto-di-pont-dael/
