The Ponte della Libertà (Liberty Bridge) is a

road bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

connecting the islands that form the historical centre of the city of

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

to the mainland part of the city. Designed in 1932 by engineer Eugenio Miozzi, it was opened by

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

in 1933 as Ponte Littorio ("

Lictor A lictor (possibly from Latin language, Latin ''ligare'', meaning 'to bind') was a Ancient Rome, Roman civil servant who was an attendant and bodyguard to a Roman magistrate, magistrate who held ''imperium''. Roman records describe lictors as hav ...

's bridge") – a name used during the

Fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

era for several other Italian bridges. At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it was renamed ''Ponte della Libertà'' to honour the end of the Fascist dictatorship and of the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

occupation. The bridge is the only vehicular access to the historical centre of Venice. * The eastern end of the road terminates in the Piazzale Roma, the bus depot for the historical centre. * The western end reaches mainland Venice and becomes the Via Libertà, which divides the Venetian boroughs () of

Mestre Mestre () is a borough of the comune of Venice on the mainland opposite the historical island city in the region of Veneto, Italy. Administratively, Mestre forms (together with the nearby Carpenedo) the Municipalità di Mestre-Carpenedo, one ...

(north) and

Marghera Marghera is a ''municipalità'' (borough) of the ''comune'' of Venice, Italy, Venice, Italy. It includes the industrial area known as Porto Marghera (English: Marghera Port) or Venezia Porto Marghera. Etymology The name Marghera is said in popula ...

(south). It is final section of the old Public Road 11, the . It is long and has two lanes (but no emergency lane) with a

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

track each way. There is also a pedestrian and cycle path on the southern side. It was built alongside the Venice Railway Viaduct,Venice Railroad Bridge
/ref> which had been constructed in 1846. This has two tracks each way and is still in use.

In popular culture

The bridge was a major location for the White Album fight in the manga and anime ''

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly manga magazine ''Ultra Jum ...

: Golden Wind''.

References

Bridges in Venice Ponte della Libertà Road bridges in Italy Ponte della Libertà Ponte della Libertà Ponte della Libertà Mestre {{Italy-bridge-struct-stub

In popular culture

See also

References