Pons Augusti
About
Augustus's engineers finished this bridge around 27 BCE to carry the Via Flaminia across the Nera river gorge on four soaring arches, reaching 30 meters at its highest point and stretching some 160 meters end to end, making it one of the largest bridges the Romans ever built. Its ruins later amazed the painter Corot so much that he sketched them again and again in the 1820s. Only the southernmost arch still stands today, but in 117 CE all four carried the empire's main road north from Rome toward the Adriatic. Every courier and legion marching from Rome toward Ariminum crossed this exact span leaving Umbria.
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.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →