VIADUCT OF THE MAGLIANA DISTRICT

VIADOTTO DELLA MAGLIANA
Autostrada Roma - Aeroporto

1965 Riccardo Morandi (1902/89)
Built in the bend of the Tiber River, where the Magliana district is at beginning of the Rome-Fiumicino highway

“On June 28, 1965 a landslide, extended in width for about 200 meters, hit the Magliana bend of the River Tiber and the motorway bridge still under construction at the time. The designer Riccardo Morandi - commissioned by ANAS to remedy - identified two possible solutions: either rebuilding the ruined stretch, with a deck based on sets of poles inserted in the ground in great depth; or cross over the whole area of the landslide with a suspension bridge with a single arch. ANAS chose the second option, the most ambitious and never attempted in Rome until then” (Antonella Anappo - Il Ponte Morandi, Monografia)

“In a continuous research, which does not consider technology for its own sake and at the same time is devoid of formal preconceptions, Morandi designed works marked by a perfect balance between functionality, rigor of structural solutions and quality of the final image. (...) He studied the prestressed concrete, developing a system, for which in 1948 won the first of seven patents related to his name” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

PORT OF RIPETTA

PORTO DI RIPETTA

Lungotevere in Augusta - Demolished

1703/05 lost masterpiece by Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729) built for Clement XI Albani (1700/21)

It was obviously inspirational for Francesco De Sanctis when he conceived the Spanish Steps built in the years 1723/26

During the construction there was an earthquake in Rome which brought down two arches of the second tier of the Colosseum and the fallen blocks were used by Alessandro Specchi as building material for the port

It was unfortunately destroyed at the end of the nineteenth century to build the embankments of the River Tiber

The only remnants are the Fontana dei Navigatori (Fountain of the Navigators) and the two columns that used to adorn the staircase

“In the relatively stagnant climate at the opening of the century Specchi offers a proposal polemic, on one hand, against the official classicism - to which he opposes a revival of Borromini modules - and emblematic, on the other, of the new age for its character of friendly insert in the urban landscape. He solves brilliantly the problem of the connection between the beach and an architectural background not at all uniform: he identifies the major axis in line with the modest façade of the church of St. Jerome, and he engages on it a cylindrical wall which join two flights of descending stairs. Along these there are two extensive sets of stairs, two concave ramps to accommodate those coming from the river. The waving movement of Borromini façades is here transposed on an urban scale to get a perfect interpenetration between architecture and nature, between city and river” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“Specchi has crucial importance as the first symptom of the revival of dramatic creative ambitions that characterizes the second and third decades of the century. In his dynamic and open composition there is a bold critique of the eclectic caution of his master Carlo Fontana and a protest against the waste of potential for development implicit in Borromini's inheritance, which in other parts of Europe had otherwise found fertile ground. The composition is related to the one, perhaps suggested by Bernini himself, for the Spanish Steps (...), but in its rigorous research for a plastic or linear continuity reveals a penetrating reading of the last experiences of Borromini, especially the façade of San Carlino. (...) The density of rhythm of Alessandro Specchi was unknown to the more relaxed phrasing of the previous century” (Paolo Portoghesi)

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

ANCIENT BOATHOUSE

NAVALIA

Lungotevere Testaccio

In 193 BC the censors Lucius Aemilius Lepidus and Lucius Aemilius Paulus built the new port, the EMPORIUM near the Tiber River to the south of the Aventine Hill in the area of the Testaccio district with a long porch of 487 x 8 m (1600 x 26 feet) consisting of fifty communicating rooms

The censors of 174 BC Fulvius Flaccus and Albinus Postumius paved it, subdivided with barriers and built stairs down to the Tiber

Behind the Emporium there is a huge rectangular building measuring 487 x 60 m (1,600 x 200 feet) believed to be the “Portico of Aemilia” but, more probably, corresponding to the NAVALIA, a building mentioned by Cicero, built by Hermodoros of Salamis in 149/146 BC during the Third Punic War, considering the the building technique

It was used to house the Roman warships: fifty quinqueremes, ship with five men on each oar, as long as 60 m (196 feet) each

When, during the imperial period, there was no reason anymore to have a military port, it was used as a warehouse

The remains were found in the years 1868/70 and explored again in 1952

Some structures that date back to a rebuilding of the Trajan's period (98/117) are still visible and were embedded into the wall of Lungotevere Testaccio

WALLS ALONG THE BANKS OF THE RIVER TIBER

MURAGLIONI DEL TEVERE

Lungoteveri

17 m (56 feet) high

Built from 1875 until 1905 by Raffaele Canevari (1828/1900) and Angelo Vescovali (1826/95)

The last section, under the Aventine Hill, was only built in 1925

Most of the work took place around 1890

Giuseppe Garibaldi was among the ones who strongly lobbied to build the walls

There had been a large flood on December 28, 1870, just two months after the Breach of Porta Pia: the height of the River Tiber had reached 17.22 m (56.5 feet), the largest flood since 1637

The River Tiber has an average flow rate of about 240 m³/s, (8,500 cubic feet/s) significantly lower than the main rivers of the world (the Seine has a capacity of about 500 m³/s - 17,500 cubic feet/s - the Nile about 3,000 m³/s - 106,000 cubic feet/s) but it can also increase tenfold during major floods

It is estimated that in the flood of December 24, 1598, the largest ever recorded, the flow of the river reached 4,000 m³/s (141,000 cubic feet/s). On that occasion the Ponte S. Maria or Ponte Senatorio was destroyed and it has been known as the Ponte Rotto (Broken Bridge) ever since