-ACCESSIBLE-
The Varano barrel is an important hydraulic work carried out in the years 1458-1464 which is located in the territory of the municipality of Serravalle di Chienti and takes its name from the Varano, lords of Camerino.
It is an artificial emissary complex that was excavated by Giulio Cesare Varano on a project by Florentine hydraulic engineers with the aim of reclaiming the plateau of Colfiorito, a karst plain. Still to this day, the waters that are collected by the canals that branch out over the whole plateau, after an underground path of about 200 m in length, give rise to the Chienti river upstream of Serravalle.
During the reconstruction following the 1997 earthquake, a new parallel underground collector replaced the Varano barrel which, disused, underwent restoration and consolidation work on a project by the architect Giulio Andrea De Santis. During the construction of the new work, another conduit parallel to the barrel was discovered, made of travertine in Roman times, of which the memory had been lost. The entrance to this conduit, located about 300 meters from the first and about 2.5 m deep, was unearthed in an excavation campaign by the Archaeological Superintendency of Ancona.
Source: http://www.luoghidelsilenzio.it/marche/03_territorio/00045/index.htm