BRIDGES IN ROME

BRIDGES A mong the engineering works that testify to the remarkable building ability of the Romans and the particular use of the arch as a principal element, bridges constitute an important chapter. At present, there are five bridges in Rome that were built during this Milvio, Fabricio, Cestio, Elio and Emilio period and still existing: Milvio, Fabricio, Cestio, Elio and Emilio.

I t is well known that the first settlement of the city were made on the Tiber of banks river at the Tiber Island a good point to pass to cross the river and immediately before the rapids that condition the navigability. Right where the island is, we find two of the most ancient bridges of the city: the Ponte Fabricio - built in 62 B.C. - that joins the island with the left bank of the river, and the Ponte Cestio, built just a little later, that joins the island with the other bank. Not far, down the valley, we find the ruins of an other Roman bridge that was often altered: the Ponte Emilio. On the other hand, the Ponte Elio, now called Ponte Sant'Angelo, was built during the age of Adriano; it is in front of Hadrian's Tomb that has been modified in Renaissance and Baroque periods.

T he Ponte Milvio o Molle - ancient Ponte Milvius - was built in the II century BC and so it is the most ancient stone bridge of the city; it is situated just outside the ancient urban area and it had a notable strategic importance because right there converged the principal consular roads from the north: Flaminia, Cassia and Clodia.

PONTE CESTIO E rected in the first century BC by L. Cestio and subsequentlyrestored by the emperors Valentinian, Valens and Grazian in 370 AD, it is constituted by three arcades in travertine and it shows, on the parapet inscriptions to the emperors who restored it.

PONTE ELIO T he emperor Hadrian wanted the bridge to be built in 133 A.D. to allow entry to his Mausoleum. It maintains unchanged the three central arcades and it is considered the most beautiful of the Roman bridges of the City.

PONTE EMILIO C ommonly called Ponte Rotto (Broken Bridge), it maintains only the pylons of the original structurally the arcade still visible dates back to the Renaissance epoch.

PONTE FABRICIO O n the central pylon it has relieved by a small arch and, on both the fronts, shows inscriptions with the name of the builder. The attack has adorned by two quadrangular stones surmounted by marmoreal heads (herma). I t is constituted by two ample arcades in travertine with the concave area made of peperino.

PONTE MILVIO B uilt in 109 BC by Marco Emilio Scauro it is provided with a turret that in the primitive version dated back to the fortifications of Aurelian but that subsequently was altered and finally reconstructed in form of a Gate by Valadier.

PONTE MILVIO T he Milvio bridge is famous because in a film “Ho voglia di te”, the actors who were in the characters of two lovers, they go in this bridge and put a locker in light lamp and trow away, the key in the river Tevere as a symbol of their love. Since then, all the lovers go to Milvio bridge to put lockers.