Programska knjižica - Hrvatsko filozofsko društvo

Na kraju ekspertize Bošković je progovorio i o nekim aspektima života
uz Fiumicino, koji se od hidrotehničkoga inženjera nisu očekivali. Založio se
da se za siromašni puk Fiumicina i putnike, naročito zbog redovitih poplava,
podigne pekarnica i gostionica, a da se za vojnike izgradi nova tvrđava bliža
moru. Time je otkrio još jednu dimenziju svoje osobe: socijalnu osjetljivost.
Ključne riječi: Ruđer Bošković, Tiber, plovni rukavac rijeke, Luigi Vanvitelli, Christopher
Maire, uzroci poplave, drvena riva, proširenje ušća, odvodni
kanal, glad, socijalna osjetljivost
BOŠKOVIĆ’S FIRST HYDRAULIC EXPERTISE:
SCRITTURA AFTER THE TIBER FLOODS IN 1750 AND 1751
Following the Tiber flood of 22 December 1750, Bošković was summoned
to inspect the damaged wooden banks (passonate) of Fiumicino, the navigable
branch of the Tiber, and propose the emergency as well as long-term measures
aimed at the prevention or limitation of damages caused by the regular growths
of the river. Pope Benedict XIV gave this order to his general treasurer msgr.
Banchieri, for he was evidently unsatisfied with the solutions previously submitted
by the architects in his service, primarily with Luigi Vanvitelli.
As result of two expeditions to the flooded Tiber area in December 1750
and January 1751, Bošković expeditiously supplied an expertise entitled Scrittura
su le ragioni e rimedii de danni seguiti nelle passonate di Fiumicino per
l’escrescenze degl’Anni 1750, e 1751, in which at the beginning he referred to
the reports and drawings by papal architects, who more diffusely documented
the damages on the wooden banks of Fiumicino, along with a map charted by
Christopher Maire and on it Isola Sacra, i.e., the area which encompasses Fiumara
Grande and Fiumicino–two branches of the Tiber River.
Well versed in technical expertise, after the static expertise of the fissures
on the Dome of St Peter’s Basilica and midst his preparations for the geodesiccartographic
expedition from Rome to Rimini, in his first hydraulic expertise
the professor of mathematics at the Collegium Romanum offered an equally
clear methodology, which also characterises the structure of his writing: 1.
description of damages; 2. cause of damages; 3. necessary measures; 4. other
useful measures.
Bošković divided the causes of the Tiber floods into two types: the ones
that cause obstacles to the river flow, such as boats moored to the riverbank
built of wooden logs or a boat sunk at the branch mouth, and those that contribute
to a sudden inflow of water, e.g., heavy rains.
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