Ponte Sublicio, Rome

Ponte Sublicio is the masonry bridge spanning the Tiber here, joining Aventine and Testaccio with Trastevere. Built from 1914 to 1917 for Marcello Piacentini’s design, it opened on 21 April 1919. Its three broad arches make a solid passage over the water; the structure extends 105 metres and measures 20 metres across.

Its name reaches back to Rome’s earliest Tiber crossing, attributed to King Ancus Marcius in the seventh century BCE. That vanished crossing stood upstream near an old ford and was made entirely from timber planks—the meaning behind “Sublicio.” Sacred rites once took place there, including the casting of straw figures into the river. As local legend has it, Horatius Cocles faced Etruscan attackers alone while Romans dismantled that wooden bridge.