HUMBERT I BRIDGE

PONTE UMBERTO I

Piazza dei Tribunali/Via Zanardelli

1885/95 Angelo Vescovali (1826/95) head of the municipal hydraulic office who, besides this, designed four other bridges in the center of Rome (Garibaldi, Cavour, Regina Margherita and Palatino)

It is 105.65 m (346 feet) long

The work lasted ten years as a result of the works for the construction of the embankments of the Tiber River that left no space for the bridge's construction site

TESTACCIO DISTRICT BRIDGE

PONTE TESTACCIO

Piazzale di Ponte Testaccio/Largo Marzi

1937/48 designed and begun by Cesare Pascoletti (1898/1986), a student of Marcello Piacentini

It was completed by the engineer Bastianelli and the engineer and mathematician from Trieste Giulio Krall (1901/71)

It is 121.90 m (400 feet) long

It should have been called Bridge of Africa and it would have to connect the continuation of Viale Aventino with Trastevere Station, after the planned demolition of the Slaughterhouse

In 1949, the year after the inauguration, metal bars were added into the openings of the railings to prevent children from sneaking through and falling into the river

SIXTUS BRIDGE

PONTE SISTO

Piazza Trilussa/Via dei Pettinari

Part of an arch is ancient: maybe part of the Bridge of Agrippa, built before 12 BC, or of the AURELIUS or “ANTONINUS” BRIDGE built in 147 AD for Antoninus Pius (138/161) or Caracalla (211/217), who was actually called Marco Aurelius Antoninus

It was restored in the years 366/367 by the prefect Lucius Aurelius Avianus Symmachus under Valentinian (364/375 with Valens and Gratian) and called the Bridge of Valentinian until 589 when a flood of the River Tiber destroyed it

Since then it was called tremulous BRIDGE, BROKEN BRIDGE or GIANICOLENSE BRIDGE

It was rebuilt in 1473/75 maybe by Baccio Pontelli (about 1450/92) for Sixtus IV Della Rovere (1471/84). He incorporated the ruins of the ancient bridge in the new construction and used materials taken from the Colosseum

The bridge was financed with money from the taxes levied on the “public whores” or prostitutes under the control of the church

One of the pillars was restored in 1567 by Matteo Bartolani da Città di Castello (about 1527/about 1598) for Pius IV Medici (1559/65)

In 1998 the parapets were rebuilt according to the original design and the damaged metal walkways added in 1877 were removed

It is 108 m (354 feet) long and 11 m (36 feet) wide

It seems that Sixtus IV had decided to build the bridge because when he was still a cardinal he had lived in the Convent of S. Salvatore in Onda in Via dei Pettinari and so he knew well how the construction of the new bridge would have facilitated communications in this area of ​​Rome

It is the only bridge in Rome constructed between antiquity and the nineteenth century

SALARIA BRIDGE

PONTE SALARIO

Via Salaria 721

Built in the Republican period so that the VIA SALARIA could pass the ANIENE RIVER

The original bridge was constructed by the Etruscans who used the Via Salaria to take salt from the salt marshes near the mouth of the Tiber to the Sabina region

It was destroyed and rebuilt several times

The MODERN PONTE SALARIO was built in 1870 with an expansion in 1930

The structure of the end of the second/first half of the century BC there are only two minor arches incorporated into the modern bridge. They are in cement with shards of tuff, while the outer blocks are made of tuff stone from Fidene

BROKEN BRIDGE

PONTE ROTTO

Lungotevere Pierleoni/Lungotevere Alberteschi

It's the ancient Pons Aemilius, the first of Rome to be constructed in stone, erected in two phases:

1) 181/179 BC by Marcus Emilius Lepidus and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior who erected pillars supporting a wooden walkway

2) 142 BC by Publius Scipio and Lucius Mummius who replaced the wooden walkway with arches

It was repeatedly destroyed by the floods of the Tiber and repeatedly rebuilt

It took the name of PONTE S. MARIA (St. Mary's Bridge) e di PONTE SENATORIO (Bridge of the Senate)

Various architects tried to rebuild it including Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475/1564) in the years 1548/50

He had not rebuilt it yet when in 1551 the new Pope Julius III Ciocchi del Monte (1550/55) pulled off the task to be given to Giovanni Lippi aka Nanni di Baccio Bigio (about 1513/68) who completed the bridge in 1552

Michelangelo didn't value Nanni di Baccio Bigio at all and frowned. One day he passed in a carriage on the bridge and turned to Giorgio Vasari, who accompanied him, and said: “George, this bridge trembles beneath; urge the ride so that does not ruin while we are on it”

Indeed, the bridge did not last long: in 1557 the Tiber River destroyed it

In the years 1573/75 the bridge was rebuilt again by Matteo Bartolani da Città di Castello (about 1527/about 1598) for Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572/85) who wanted it ready for the Holy Year of 1575

The papal coat of arms of Gregory XIII is still present on the bridge

It was finally destroyed during the flood of the Tiber in 1598, the largest ever recorded. It is estimated that at that time the river flow reached about 4000 m³/s, compared with a normal flow of about 240 m³/s

PALATINE BRIDGE

PONTE PALATINO

Via Lungarina/Piazza Bocca della Verità 

1886/90 Angelo Vescovali (1826/95)

Measuring 155 m (508.5 feet), it is the longest bridge in Rome

In order to build it two arches of the Ponte Rotto (Broken Bridge) were torn down

It is also known as the English Bridge for the traffic on the left

Many accidents have occurred on the bridge, some of them fatal, so as to give it the reputation of cursed bridge

Near the end of the right is the outlet of the CLOACA MAXIMA the ancient sewer coming from the area of ​the Forum of Nerva dating back to the sixth century BC

Originally the pipe ran in the open. Between the second and first century BC a vault in tuff stone was built in, buried in various points in restorations with concrete or brickwork

NOMENTANO BRIDGE

PONTE NOMENTANO

Via Nomentana 414

Built in the Republican period so that the VIA NOMENTANA could pass the ANIENE RIVER

It was destroyed by the Goths of Totila in the year 549

Rebuilt by the Byzantine general Narses in 552

The current upper part dates back to that time, while the central arch is of the first century AD

It was fortified under Pope Adrian I (772/795)

Restored under Nicholas V Parentucelli (1447/51) and also under Innocent X Pamphilj (1644/55)

After being damaged in 1849 by the French army it was again restored

Now it is inserted in a PUBLIC PARK and the stretch of Via Nomentana to which it belongs has been closed to traffic

MAMMOLO BRIDGE

PONTE MAMMOLO

Via degli Alberini

Built in the Republican period so that the VIA TIBURTINA could pass the ANIENE RIVER

It was made in opus quadratum of travertine marble and tuff stone with two large arches, of which remains only part of the eastern span and the base of the pillar of the central one

Its original structure probably consisted of three arches with the central one larger

It was known as Mammolo since 1338 perhaps for having been attributed to Giulia Mammea, the mother of Septimius Severus (193/211), or more likely for a language contraction from marmoreus being the original in travertine

It was destroyed by the French in 1849

The NEW MAMMOLO BRIDGE further north was rebuilt in the years 1853/57 for Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78) and restored in 1871

GIACOMO MATTEOTTI BRIDGE

PONTE GIACOMO MATTEOTTI

Piazza delle Cinque Giornate/Via Azuni

1924/29 Augusto Antonelli (1880/1960)

Inspired by the ancient Roman bridges, especially the Fabricius Bridge and therefore built in tuff coated with brick and travertine

It is 138.60 m (455 feet) long

The original name was PONTE LITTORIO

Dedicated in the post-war period to the socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti (1885/1924) kidnapped by Fascists thugs near the bridge in 1924 and later killed

GARIBALDI BRIDGE

PONTE GARIBALDI

Piazza Gioacchino Belli/Via Arenula

1884/88 Angelo Vescovali (1826/95)

The original two-bay bridge in metal, resting on a central pylon and two shoulders covered with travertine, was enlarged and rebuilt in concrete in the years 1955/57 by the engineer and mathematician from Trieste Giulio Krall (1901/71)

It is 120.40 m (395 feet) long

The first name was PONTE ALLA REGOLA (Bridge of the Regola district) but it was later dedicated to Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807/22) of whom are mentioned eight battles he won in the markings on the “Four Pillars” on the ends of the bridge

MAGLIANA BRIDGE

PONTE DELLA MAGLIANA

Via Ponte della Magliana/Lungotevere della Magliana

1930/48 designed by Romolo Raffaelli

It was swept away by a flood of the Tiber in 1937 when it still had not been completed

Bombed and damaged in 1943 by the Germans during the Battle of Magliana

Bombed and destroyed by the Americans in 1944

Rebuilt in 1948 200 m away by Ignazio Guidi (1904/78), Cesare Valle (1902/2000) and Carlo Cestelli Guidi for the Allegri firm without the previous fascist decorations

It is 224 m long (735 feet) and is made up of seven arches in reinforced concrete and travertine. The central bay can be opened and it is made of steel

BRIDGE OF THE RESURGENCE

PONTE DEL RISORGIMENTO

Piazza Monte Grappa/Piazzale delle Belle Arti

1909/11 by the great French inventor and engineer François Hennebique (1842/1921)

“He first developed his reinforced concrete system on a house project in Belgium in 1879 where he used concrete as a fireproof protection for wrought iron beams. In 1894, Hennebique built the first reinforced concrete bridge in Wiggen, Switzerland. His business developed rapidly, expanding from five employees in Brussels in 1896, to twenty-five two years later when he moved to Paris. In addition, he had a rapidly expanding network of firms acting as agents for his system. Hennebique's idea of strengthening concrete using iron and steel bars was the forerunner to the widespread modern reinforced-concrete method used in construction today” (National Inventors Hall of Fame - www.invent.org)

The span of the bridge is 100 m (330 feet) and the thickness at the center is only 85 cm (2.7 feet)

It was built on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the unification of Italy to link the areas set up for the international exhibition of Valle Giulia and the Prati district

It was the first bridge to be built in Rome with reinforced concrete and a single arch

It was later covered with stucco in imitation of travertine and so the structures of advanced technology with which it was built were hidden

“For its technical characteristics is one of the most significant works produced in the world in those years. (...) Some innovative solutions were adopted because of the limited capacity of resistance of the ground which advised both the use of a 'cell' structure - formed by a series of ribs orthogonal among themselves - rigid but very lightweight and thus able to greatly reduce the loads, both the testing of new techniques for the construction of the foundations themselves” (Piero Ostilio Rossi)