1914/19
project by Marcello Piacentini (1881/1960)
executed by the Allegri firm
It is also
known as NEW SUBLICIUS BRIDGE
It is
105.55 m (346 feet) long
The
original bridge, OLD SUBLICIUS BRIDGE, which used to stand further
north, in correspondence with today's Via del Porto was, according to
tradition, the first bridge in Rome
Some sacred
and archaic ceremonies used to take place there, including the launch in the
river of straw dolls, images of the Argei, princes who, according to Varro had
come to Rome in the wake of Hercules and had settled on the Capitoline Hill
This ritual
was done perhaps to replace some ancient human sacrifices and used to take
place in May during the festival of Lemuria, which were celebrated for
exorcising the spirits of the dead, the Lemuri
It was
called Sublicius Bridge for the sublicae, wooden planks, of which it was
made, stabilized by nails of bronze. Horatius Cocles, according to legend, in
507 BC stopped here the Etruscans and the Romans cut the bridge behind him
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