Ponte Sublicio

Also known as Ponte Aventino or Ponte Marmoreo (Marble Bridge), today's Ponte Sublicio connects Rioni Trastevere and Testaccio at the height of Porta Portese and the characteristic Sunday market of the same name.

It is located further downstream than the ancient ‘Pons Sublicius’ whose construction is attributed to King Ancus Marcius between 642 and 617 BC, as attested by Titus Livius and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The Pons Sublicius, which crossed the river Tiber just below the Tiber Island, derived its name from the ‘sublicae’, which in the Volscian language were the wooden planks with which it was built, easily removable in the event of an attack on the city.

This eventuality occurred when the Etruscan king Porsena attacked Rome; while the Roman Horatius Cocles was busy fighting the Etruscans alone, his fellow citizens gradually knocked down the bridge behind him to slow down the enemies' advance and prevent them from crossing the Tiber. At the end of the battle, Horatius Cocles probably threw himself into the river with his heavy armour and according to Polybius he drowned, however, according to Livy, being an excellent swimmer he managed to reach Rome. The fact is that the Roman people paid him the honours reserved for the great heroes and saviours of Rome.

The Pons Sublicius was considered sacred and was the scene of evocative celebrations such as the rite of the Argei that took place on 15 May each year, during the Lemurian ceremonial: twenty-four wicker puppets were tied hand and foot and thrown into the river one after the other, perhaps in memory of the thirty companions of Hercules who, on their way back to Argos, asked to be thrown into the river and abandoned to the current to reach their homeland as soon as possible.

The bridge was restored and rebuilt several times over the centuries by Antoninus Pius, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius and by Septimius Severus, who had the piers rebuilt in masonry and travertine; it is also engraved on some coins from the imperial period where it is depicted with arches and decorative statues. Under Pope Sixtus IV, it was completely demolished and 400 large cannon balls were produced from the travertine that covered it.

The last visible traces of the Pons Sublicius date back to 1890, when its remains were destroyed in conjunction with the erection of the Tiber walls to contain the river floods and prevent it from overflowing.

The present bridge, which only retains the name of the ancient Roman structure, was built between 1914 and 1917 to a design by architect Marcello Piacentini. Inaugurated on 21 April 1919, it is 105 metres long, 20 metres wide and has three masonry arches.

Photo: Redazione Turismo Roma