Bridge of Tiberius
About
Augustus began this five-arch bridge over the Marecchia in 14 CE, and Tiberius finished it in 21 CE, giving it his name. Cut from solid Istrian stone, it marked the starting point of the Via Aemilia toward Aquileia and has carried traffic across the river for two thousand years without a single arch collapsing — surviving even reported German demolition charges in the Second World War. Blind aedicules frame the piers between its five spans.
What happened here
Piers are set on cofferdams — a ring of driven piles, pumped dry, filled with concrete that sets under water. They are built with a cutwater pointing upstream to split the current and the ice. The span above may be stone arches or timber on stone, and timber is not a poor relation: it is cheaper, faster, and replaceable. Roads approach on an embankment so the crossing stays level. Tolls are common, shrines at either end are usual, and the inscription names whoever paid. Floods are the enemy; a bridge is inspected after every big one, and the scour around the piers is packed with rubble. A bridge fixes a town's position for a thousand years, which is why so many are still standing.
In ancient writing
- CIL, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum XI 367
Preserves the bridge's own dedicatory inscription recording its completion under Augustus and Tiberius.
Sources
Nearby
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