The Lucano bridge (in Italian: ''ponte Lucano'') is a Roman stone bridge over the

Aniene The Aniene (; la, Aniō), formerly known as the Teverone, is a river in Lazio, Italy. It originates in the Apennines at Trevi nel Lazio and flows westward past Subiaco, Vicovaro, and Tivoli to join the Tiber in northern Rome. It formed the pr ...

river in the

Province of Rome The Province of Rome ( it, Provincia di Roma) was one of the five provinces that formed part of the region of Lazio in Italy. It was established in 1870 and disestablished in 2014. It was essentially coterminous with the Rome metropolitan area. T ...

, Italy, on the

via Tiburtina Via Tiburtina is an ancient road in Italy leading east-northeast from Rome to Tivoli (Latin, Tibur) and then, with the via Valeria, on to Pescara (Latin, Aternum). Historical road It was probably built by the Roman censor Marcus Valerius Maxi ...

. Coming from the direction of Rome, the bridge is found after Tivoli Terme and before

Hadrian's Villa Hadrian's Villa ( it, Villa Adriana) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising the ruins and archaeological remains of a large villa complex built c. AD 120 by Roman Emperor Hadrian at Tivoli outside Rome. The site is owned by the Republic of ...

. This bridge was part of the project for the most endangered monuments of the

World Monuments Fund World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and trainin ...

for the year 2010.

History

The bridge which dates to the first century BC crosses the

in the vicinity of Tibur (Tivoli) and consists of seven stone arches which carried traffic on the

up to the 20th century. In modern times the road was rerouted a little further north over a new bridge. The archeological site also includes the mausoleum of the Plautii, a great round tower on the south bank of the river, that dates to the

first century BC The 1st century Before Christ, BC, also known as the last century BC and the last century Common Era , BCE, started on the first day of 100 BC, 100 BC and ended on the last day of 1 BC, 1 BC. The Anno Domini, AD/BC notation does not ...

, and the ruins of an inn dating from the 15th century. The Plautii were an illustrious Roman family who counted amongst its members

Gaius Plautius Proculus Gaius Plautius Proculus was the first member of the gens Plautia gens, Plautia to achieve Roman consul, consular rank. Little is known of his life before becoming consul with Gaius Fabius Ambustus (consul), Gaius Fabius Ambustus in 358 BC, although ...

Gaius Plautius Venox Gaius Plautius Venox was a Roman statesman and general who served as consul in 347 and 341 BC. Plautius was a member of the family of the Plautii, a relatively undistinguished plebeian gens who had only achieved their first consulship in 358 BC. P ...

and Marcus Plautius Silvanus. One of the inscriptions found on the tower include the following text that indicates that Marcus Plautius Lucanus and Tiberius Claudius Nero built the bridge at the fourteenth mile of the

Via Tiburtina Via Tiburtina is an ancient road in Italy leading east-northeast from Rome to Tivoli (Latin, Tibur) and then, with the via Valeria, on to Pescara (Latin, Aternum). Historical road It was probably built by the Roman censor Marcus Valerius Maxi ...

: M PLAVTIVS , M F ANIEN , LVCANVS , TI. CLAVDIVS , TI. F PAL. , NERO. AED. CVR , PR. CENS. TTVIR. V , M. XIVNicola Moorby, ‘Transcription of Latin Inscription from a Tomb near the Ponte Lucano; and Notes on Tivoli and the Surrounding Area 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2009, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-transcription-of-latin-inscription-from-a-tomb-near-the-r1137565, accessed 2 July 2020

Restoration works

The ensemble of monuments has survived centuries relatively intact, but is in dire need of repairs. In 2004, during flooding of the Aniene, due in part to the blockage caused by illegal industrial dumping, the decision was taken to restore these monuments and to integrate them progressively into a more welcoming setting. File:Piranesi-3012.jpg, Tomb of the Plautii, engraving by

Piranesi Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian Classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric ...

, 1756 File:Pietro della Valle, Il ponte lucano sulla via di Tivoli, 1880.jpg, Pont Lucano and the mausoleum of the Plautii, oil on canvas (1880),

Pietro Della Valle Pietro Della Valle ( la, Petrus a Valle; 2 April 1586 – 21 April 1652), also written Pietro della Valle, was an Italian composer, musicologist, and author who travelled throughout Asia during the Renaissance period. His travels took him to the ...

(1827-1891)

Notes and references

External links

Ponte Lucano
World Monuments Fund {{coord, 41.9549, 12.7618, type:landmark_region:IT, display=title Bridges completed in the 1st century BC Monuments and memorials in Lazio Roman bridges in Italy