Containing the Flood: Hydraulic Infrastructure and Theater Technology in Gianlorenzo Bernini’s Flooding of the Tiber

Gianlorenzo Bernini’s theatrical scene, the Flooding of the Tiber, staged a flood with real water in a theatrical production almost a year after Rome had experienced a particularly devastating flood. Bernini’s manufactured flood explores Rome’s ability to exert control over its landscape in the very venue - the theater - that was known for rivaling nature. Seventeenth-century scenographers produced increasingly life-like forests, fires, sunrises, and thunderstorms. To mount his flood, Bernini employed hydraulic engineering technology that was used on the stage and in urban water management. This essay argues that the Flooding of the Tiber presented Rome’s urban elites with the ambiguity of water’s role in the city’s prosperity. Frequent flooding caused massive destruction, but recent renovation of aqueducts distributed fresh water throughout the city and powered local industry.