109 BC for
the censor Marcus Aemilius Scaurus who wanted to replace a wooden bridge that
had been built at the end of the third century BC
It was
originally called Mulvius and the name was corrupted in the Middle Ages
to MOLLE (soft)
There are
only few traces of the original bridge left in the two arches closer to the
left bank
Near the
bridge took place on October 28, 312 AD the famous BATTLE OF THE MILVIAN BRIDGE
between the pretenders to the Roman imperial throne Constantine (306/337) and
Maxentius (306/312), after which the Christian religion was legalized by
Constantine who had won
Present
bridge arranged in 1805 by Giuseppe Valadier
(1762/1839) for the return to Rome of Pius VII Chiaramonti (1800/23)
Pius VII in
1804 had crowned Napoleon Emperor in Paris. He was arrested in the Quirinal Palace
in 1809 and taken to France. He returned to Rome again in 1814 when he
reestablished the order of the Jesuits in the world
One of the
arches of the bridge was blown up by supporters of Garibaldi in 1849 to try to
delay the entry of the French army
Restored in
1850 and in 1871 by Francesco Azzurri
(1831/1901) for Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78)
Statues on the southern end:
On the left
“St. John of Nepomuk” protector of the dangers of drowning by Agostino Cornacchini 1731 (1683/1740)
On the
right “Immaculate” 1840 by Domenico Piggiani
St. John of
Nepomuk was a Bohemian priest who in 1393 in Prague was tortured, throwed off a
bridge and drowned by order of King Wenceslaus of Bohemia
He was the
confessor of the queen and it seems that he had refused to reveal the secrets
that she had confessed. He was canonized in 1729 and is the patron saint of the
dangers of drowning
Statues on the northern end:
Group of
two statues “St. John the Baptist baptizing Jesus” 1633/44 by Francesco Mochi (1580/1654)
It was
originally carved for S. Giovanni dei
Fiorentini but it was never placed there and was moved here
instead. It was moved again in 1956 to the Museo
di Roma at Palazzo Braschi and replaced with a copy
After the
success of the 2006 book for teens Ho voglia di te (I want you) written
by Federico Moccia and the eponymous film of 2007 it became customary for young
lovers to put a pad lock on the lampposts of the bridge and throw the keys into
the Tiber in imitation of a scene from the movie
In July
2007, after the collapse of the lamps due to the excessive weight given the
enormous quantity of padlocks, the municipality of Rome has installed some
pillars adjacent to each lamp to which some chains for the padlocks have been
attached, safeguarding the integrity of the street lamps
In 2012, in
preparation for a celebration on the anniversary of the Battle of the Milvian
Bridge the municipality of Rome decided to remove the padlocks and set up a
garrison of guards against the lovers with padlocks
Love
however won again and many young lovers managed to circumvent the defense and
fix their padlocks all the same
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