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WALKING TOURS OF ROME

Rome's First Bridge Since Antiquity

1/11/2019

 
Map
Ponte Sisto, Rome
Ponte Sisto

The Ponte Sisto was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV (r. 1471-84) for the Holy Year of 1475, but not completed until 1479. It is generally attributed to the Florentine architect Baccio Pontelli (c. 1450-92), who reused the foundations of an ancient Roman bridge the Pons Aurelius, later known as the Pons Antoninus. 

An architectural characteristic of the Ponte Sisto is the oculus or eye, which is designed
 to diminish the river's pressure on the bridge at times of flooding.

The elegant Latin inscriptions on the two plaques (copies) were composed by the Renaissance humanist Bartolomeo Platina (1421-81):

XYSTVS IIII PONT MAX/AD VTILITATEM P RO PEREGRINAEQVE MVLTI/TVDINIS AD JVBILAEVM VENTVRAE PONTEM/HVNC QVEM MERITO RVPTVM VOCABANT A FVN/DAMENTIS MAGNA CVRA ET IMPENSA RESTI/TVIT XYSTVMQVE SVO DE NOMINE APPELLARI VOLVIT (For the convenience of the people of Rome and of the multitude of visitors bound for the Jubilee, Xystus IIII, Pontifex Maximus, with great care and at great expense rebuilt from its foundations, this bridge, which in former times they justly called broken, and willed that it should be called Xystum after his own name).

MCCCCLXXV/QVI TRANSIS XYST QVARTI BENEFICIO/DEVM ROGA VT PONTEFICEM OPTIMVM MAXI/MVM DIV NOBIS SALVET AC SOSPITET BENE/VALE QVISQVIS ES VBI HAEC PRECATVS/FVERIS (1475 You who cross by the kindness of Xystus the Fourth, pray God that he may long keep and preserve us our supreme and most excellent pontiff. Farewell, whoever you may be, once you have offered this prayer). 

The Ponte Sisto was the first bridge to be built in Rome since antiquity and the last to be erected until the second half of the 19th century.

In 1866 an iron footbridge was constructed next to the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini. The bridge was duly called the Ponte dei Fiorentini, but as there was a toll to cross it, it also came to be known as the Ponte del Soldo (Penny Bridge). The 
Ponte dei Fiorentini was destroyed in 1941. 

Iron bridge at San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, Rome
Ponte dei Fiorentini, circa 1890

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    Walking Tours For Discerning Travellers

    My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England. Since 2001 I have lived in Italy, where I run private and
    small-group walking tours
    of Rome.

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  • Home
  • Private Tours
  • Small-Group Tours
  • Contact
  • Rome
  • St Peter's Basilica
    • Altars >
      • Altar of St Joseph
      • Altar of St Gregory the Great
      • Altar of the Madonna of Succour
      • Altar of St Sebastian
      • Altar of the Lie
      • Altar of the Presentation of the Virgin
      • Altar of St Jerome
      • Altar of the Transfiguration
      • Altar of Pope Leo the Great
    • Monuments >
      • Countess Matilda of Canossa
      • Maria Clementina Sobieska
      • Queen Christina of Sweden
      • Pope Innocent VIII
      • Pope Paul III
      • Pope Gregory XIII
      • Pope Gregory XIV
      • Pope Leo XI
      • Pope Urban VIII
      • Pope Alexander VII
      • Pope Clement X
      • Pope Innocent XI
      • Pope Alexander VIII
      • Pope Innocent XII
      • Pope Benedict XIV
      • Pope Clement XIII
      • Pope Pius VII
      • Pope Leo XII
      • Pope Pius VIII
      • Pope Gregory XVI
      • Pope Pius X
      • Pope Benedict XV
      • Pope Pius XI
      • Pope Pius XII
      • Pope John XXIII
      • The Stuarts
    • Portico >
      • Door of Death
      • Door of Good and Evil
      • Central Door
      • Door of the Sacraments
      • Holy Door
    • Pieta
    • Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament
    • Cathedra Petri
    • Crossing >
      • Baldacchino
      • Confessio
      • Dome
      • St Longinus
      • St Helena
      • St Veronica
      • St Andrew
    • St Peter
    • Chapel of the Choir
    • Chapel of the Baptistery
    • Nave
  • Sistine Chapel
    • North Wall
    • South Wall
    • East Wall
    • Ceiling: Part One >
      • Ceiling: Part Two
      • Ceiling: Part Three
    • The Last Judgement
  • Fountains
    • Trevi Fountain
    • Fontana della Barcaccia
    • Fountain of the Triton
    • Fountain of the Bees
    • Fountain of Moses
    • Fountain of the Four Rivers
    • Fountain of the Acqua Paola
    • Fountain of the Turtles
    • Fountain of the Naiads
    • Fountain of the Cannonball
    • Piazza del Popolo
    • Fountain of the Pantheon
    • Fountains of Piazza Farnese
    • Fountain of Goddess Roma
    • Rioni Fountains
    • Street Fountains
    • Venice Marries the Sea
    • St Peter's Square
    • Fountain of the Moor
    • Fountain of Neptune
    • Fountain of the Porter
    • Fountain of the Seahorses
  • Gallery
    • Piazzas >
      • Piazza del Campidglio
      • Piazza del Quirinale
      • Piazza del Popolo
      • Piazza di Spagna
      • Piazza Navona
      • Piazza S. M. in Trastevere
      • Piazza San Pietro
    • Mosaics
    • Fountains
    • Churches
    • Ancient Rome
    • Palaces
    • Domes
    • Papal Coats of Arms
    • Street Shrines
    • Old Photographs
    • Borromini & the Baroque