Ponte Sisto, Rome

Ponte Sisto is a pedestrian bridge over the Tiber, linking the streets of Regola with Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere. It bears the name of Pope Sixtus the Fourth, whose commission created the present crossing. Work began in fourteen seventy-three and reached completion in fourteen seventy-nine, using the surviving foundations of an earlier Roman bridge known as the Pons Aurelius.

That older crossing had been badly damaged in the early medieval period; a flood later brought down what remained, leaving it known as the broken bridge. Notice the broad stone arches and the round opening cut through the masonry: its purpose is to ease the force of floodwater pressing against the bridge. Baccio Pontelli is identified as the architect.

The bridge was ready for the Jubilee of fourteen seventy-five, when Rome needed another route for crowds of pilgrims after a deadly crush at Ponte Sant’Angelo during the previous Jubilee. Water still crosses here too: eight large pipes carry the Acqua Paola across the river. Cast-iron walkways once clung to the sides, but their removal restored the bridge’s earlier outline. Today, with vehicles excluded, Ponte Sisto makes a direct walk between the busy historic streets and Trastevere’s gathering places.