Ponte di Tiberio (Rimini)
Roman bridge in Rimini, Italy / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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]
Bridge of Tiberius Italian: Ponte di Tiberio | |
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Coordinates | 44°3′49.11″N 12°33′49.75″E |
Carries | Pedestrians |
Crosses | Marecchia (port canal) |
Locale | Rimini, Italy |
Other name(s) |
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Named for | Tiberius |
Characteristics | |
Design | Arch bridge |
Material | Istrian stone |
Total length | 62.6 m (between abutments) |
Width | 8.6 m |
Longest span | 10.6 m |
No. of spans | 5 |
History | |
Construction start | 14 AD |
Construction end | 21 AD |
Location | |
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]