Behind the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, a striking section of Rome's ancient infrastructure reveals where the Aqua Claudia was absorbed into the Aurelian Wall during the late 3rd century. The towering peperino-and-travertine arches of the Claudian Aqueduct — originally begun under Caligula in 38 AD and completed by Claudius in 52 AD — were repurposed as ready-made fortification, their massive piers rising directly from the defensive line. The double-decker form remains visible, with the lower channel carrying the Aqua Claudia and the upper added for the Anio Novus. Set between the Sessorian Palace complex and the city wall, the merged structure forms a continuous archaeological landscape, its arches standing with quiet majesty along Via Casilina. - AsNotedIn