Ponte Settimia Spizzichino

A minimalist and contemporary design and a reticular structure recalling the nearby Gazometro, one of the most striking emblems of Rome's industrial archaeology, characterise this gigantic bridge, sinuous but with essential lines, also known as Cavalcavia Ostiense.

Suspended over the tracks of the Underground Line B and the Rome-Ostia Lido railway, close to the area of the old general markets, the Settimia Spizzichino Bridge connects the Garbatella and Ostiense neighbourhoods: a mixture of industrial archaeology and popular tradition for two of the youngest and liveliest areas of the Capital, a reference point for Rome's nightlife.

The construction of an overpass over the Roma-Lido railway was already planned in the 1931 PRG Regulatory Plan; the design, however, did not start until 2003, followed, between 2006 and 2009, by the approval of the winning project by engineer Francesco Del Tosto.

The inauguration of the impressive infrastructure took place on Friday, 22 June 2012, in the presence of the city authorities. On 3 December of the same year, the bridge was named after Settimia Spizzichino. She was the only female survivor of the Polish extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau among the seventeen of the 1022 Jews rounded up in the Ghetto on 16 October 1943.

Two hundred and forty meters long, one hundred and twenty-five of which suspended, the bridge consists of two imposing white-painted arches attached to durable steel cables arranged in a radial pattern; it has two separate carriageways of three lanes 16.5 metres wide, allowing cars, public transport by rail and road and pedestrians to cross it, and one and a half metres wide cycle lanes in each direction.

After sunset, the expertly designed lighting designed by architect Francesco Bianchi enhances the soft and supple forms of the structure to the fullest, enveloping it in an evocative atmosphere that covers the outside of the bridge with a beam of white light and the inside of the central tie rods with LEDs of varying colours.

For its realisation, engineer Del Tosto also drew inspiration from iconic works such as the Puente de la Barqueta in Seville by Juan Arena and Marcos Pantaleon and Ponte Alameda in Valencia and Puente de Alamillo in Seville, the arch bridges by archistar Santiago Calatrava.