Ponte di Tiberio (Rimini)

Bridge of Tiberius

Italian: Ponte di Tiberio
The bridge viewed from downstream, September 2007
Coordinates44°3′49.11″N 12°33′49.75″E / 44.0636417°N 12.5638194°E / 44.0636417; 12.5638194
CarriesPedestrians
CrossesMarecchia (port canal)
LocaleRimini, Italy
Other name(s)
  • Ponte d'Augusto
  • Ponte di San Giuliano
Named forTiberius
Characteristics
DesignArch bridge
MaterialIstrian stone
Total length62.6 m (between abutments)
Width8.6 m
Longest span10.6 m
No. of spans5
History
Construction start14 AD
Construction end21 AD
Location
Map

The Bridge of Tiberius (Italian: Ponte di Tiberio), historically also the Bridge of Augustus (Ponte d'Augusto) or the Bridge of Saint Julian (Ponte di San Giuliano),[1][2][3] is a Roman bridge in Rimini, in the region of Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy.[4]

Constructed between 14 and 21 AD under the reigns of Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius,[4][5] the bridge traverses the Marecchia port canal at the southern end of two Roman roads, the Via Aemilia and the Via Popilia.[4][6] The bridge was built to showcase the impressiveness of Roman monumental infrastructure,[7] emphasised by its religious-theological decorative artwork,[3][8] and it is the oldest surviving Roman bridge to be decorated with Greek orders.[1]

In 552, the Ponte di Tiberio was intentionally damaged by the Gothic commander Usdrila to prevent the passage of Narses' Byzantine army;[3][9] it was damaged again during Pandolfo IV's retreat from Rimini in 1528,[10][11] and in 1743 by Spanish troops in the War of the Austrian Succession.[12] In 1944, German forces retreating from the Battle of Rimini unsuccessfully ordered the bridge's destruction.[13][14] Among the bridge's notable renovations are those of 1680, which restored the badly-damaged northernmost arch using stones from Ponte di San Vito,[7][15] and the 1970s, during which large amounts of gravel were excavated from the riverbed and the bridge's foundations were submerged in concrete under the direction of Vittoriano Viganò [it].[1][3] From 2019, the bridge was progressively limited to motor traffic,[16] and it was permanently pedestrianised in May 2020.[17]

With the Arch of Augustus, the Ponte di Tiberio is considered one of Rimini's defining symbols,[18] appearing on its public seals and coats of arms since the medieval era.[19][18] Notable artists that have depicted the Ponte di Tiberio include Giovanni Bellini,[3][20] Sebastiano Serlio,[3] Antonio da Sangallo the Younger,[21][22] Giovan Battista Piranesi,[23] Richard Wilson,[3][24] Robert Wallis, and Florent Fidèle Constant Bourgeois.[23] Andrea Palladio considered the Ponte di Tiberio "the most beautiful and the most worthy of consideration" of all the bridges he surveyed;[22][25] his stylised sketches of the bridge in I quattro libri dell'architettura (1570) inspired Green's Bridge, a Neo-Palladian bridge over the River Nore in Kilkenny, Ireland, completed in 1766.[3][26]

  1. ^ a b c Rimondini, Giovanni (2014). "Un tesoro d'arte e di storia" [A treasure of art and history] (PDF). Ariminum. March–April 2014 (in Italian). Rimini Rotary Club: 8–10. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  2. ^ Rimondini, Giovanni (2014). "Un nuovo sguardo alla nostra immagine storica" [A new look at our historic picture] (PDF). Ariminum. March–April 2014 (in Italian). Rimini Rotary Club: 6–7. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rimondini, Giovanni (22 March 2022). "Avviso ai "riminizzatori": il ponte di Augusto e Tiberio è un gioiello culturale di Rimini e del mondo" [Notice to the "Riminisers": the Bridge of Augustus and Tiberius is a cultural jewel of Rimini and the world]. Riminiduepuntozero (in Italian). Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  6. ^ "Il ponte di Tiberio "Così ha retto alle piene"" [The Ponte di Tiberio: "This is how it withstood the floods"]. Il Resto del Carlino (in Italian). 27 August 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  7. ^ a b Cartoceti, Marcello (2014). "Le pietre raccontano" [The stones tell the story] (PDF). Ariminum. March–April 2014 (in Italian). Rimini Rotary Club: 8–10. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
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