This observation comes from Marco Rossi, who has guided at the Colosseum for over a decade.

“Inside the archaeological park there are two drinking fountains and no café. In July people are in real difficulty by the second hour, and they had no way of knowing before arriving.”

Inside the archaeological park, drinking water is scarce compared with the rest of central Rome. Outside it, the city has more free drinking water than almost anywhere in the world, and most visitors never use it.

What the green pipes are

They are called nasoni — big noses, after the curved spout. There are roughly two and a half thousand of them across Rome, and they run continuously, day and night, all year.

The water is the same drinking water that reaches Roman homes. It is cold, it is free, and it is intended for anyone who wants it.

They are not ancient. They arrived in 1874, when the city installed public fountains to give free clean water to residents — a municipal decision, still known as l’acqua del sindaco, the mayor’s water.

Why they are never turned off

This is the part that troubles people, and the answer is the reverse of what it looks like.

Keeping the water moving preserves its quality and prevents it standing in the network. The overflow is not lost: it runs into the drains, flushes the sewer system, and is carried to treatment plants.

The whole network of nasoni accounts for less than one percent of the city’s water consumption.

What to look at

One of the three surviving fountains from the original 1870s design stands on Via di San Teodoro, at the edge of the Roman Forum: cast iron, with three dragon heads instead of the plain modern spout. The other two are in Piazza della Rotonda, in front of the Pantheon, and on Via della Cordonata.

Then use one. Block the spout with a finger and water jumps from a small hole on top — that is what the design is for, and it is how Romans drink without a bottle.

One caution: the decorative fountains are different. The Trevi and most monumental fountains recirculate their water and are not for drinking. There are nasoni beside the Trevi for that.

Before the Colosseum

Fill everything you have outside the gate. Inside there are two fountains for the whole park, and in August that is the difference between a good morning and an endurance test.

The water pouring away in every Roman street is not being wasted. The system works because it never stops — which is why the city that built the aqueducts still provides it freely.