Ponte Salario

The bridge was destroyed and rebuilt several times during the centuries and was destroyed by Totila in 544 AD. In 544 A.D., at the hands of Totila, it suffered serious damage, and in 565 it was restored by the Byzantine general Narsete.

Across the Ponte Salario, the ancient pons Anienis, along the Via Salaria it was possible to cross the Aniene at the point where the river met the Tiber. The Roman bridge was first mentioned by Titus Livius in 394 B.C. about the invasion of the Gauls. Over the centuries the bridge was destroyed and rebuilt several times. In 544 A.D. it was seriously damaged by Totila during the war between the Goths and the Byzantines, and was later restored in 565 by the Byzantine general Narses. As evidence of this reconstruction, he had two epigraphs affixed to the parapets, the text of which has survived. During the early Middle Ages, a defence tower was built on the right half of the bridge, which was demolished in 1829. In 1849, the French cut 15 metres off the bridge and, after a series of ups and downs, it was mined and destroyed in 1867 by the Papal troops in order to hinder Garibaldi's army. Later, in 1874, it was rebuilt and in 1930 it was enlarged with projecting superstructures placed on special corbels.

Of the ancient Roman structure, two minor undercroft arches are preserved on one side and the modern central arch on the other. The bridge originally consisted of a large central span with a travertine archivolt and two smaller arches in tuff blocks on each ramp. The presently preserved structures, probably dating back to the Republican age (end of the 2nd - first half of the 1st century BC) are in opus caementicium with tuff splinters, while the visible walls are in Fidene tuff blocks.