Ponte Giuseppe Mazzini

In homage to one of the “founding fathers” of Italian unity

In Rome the memory of Giuseppe Mazzini, one of the leading exponents of Risorgimento patriotism, is entrusted above all to the large monumental complex on the slopes of the Aventine Hill, on the side looking towards the Circus Maximus, and to the square and the avenue in the Quartiere della Vittoria district. However, one of the bridges designed after the Unification of Italy, following the major urban transformations that accompanied the transition from the 19th to the 20th century in the city, is also named after him.

From Trastevere to Via Giulia

Also called “Gianicolense” because it is located on the slopes of the Janiculum Hill, the bridge connects the Rione Trastevere, at the height of Via della Lungara, to the Rione Regola, at Via Giulia. In the first proposal submitted by engineer Angelo Vescovali (at that time Head of the Municipal Hydraulic Office and author in those years of Ponte Garibaldi, Ponte Palatino, Ponte Umberto I, Ponte Regina Margherita and Ponte Cavour), the bridge was supposed to be made of iron. In 1887, however, the design for a masonry bridge by engineers Viani and Moretti was chosen. Begun in 1904, work was completed four years later: the bridge was opened to pedestrians on 19 January 1908, and in April of the same year also to vehicles.

A bridge with subdued charm

Clad entirely in travertine, the bridge spans the Tiber with three large arches and measures 106 meters in length and 17 in width. Most often used as a photo location for the more famous Ponte Sisto, which is only 600 meters away, it is certainly unspectacular, but its lines are softened by elegant pierced parapets and tall cast-iron lampposts with bases decorated with rams’ heads and ships’ rostrums. The executive design and wooden models of the candelabras were entrusted to the well-known Florentine carving house of Mariano Coppedè, father of the more famous Gino who, a few years after the bridge’s completion, would be engaged in designing the bizarre buildings of the complex known as Coppedè.