Ponte Lucano
Tomb of the Plautii

The Lucano bridge (in Italian: ponte Lucano) is a Roman stone bridge over the Aniene river in the Province of Rome, Italy, on the via Tiburtina. Coming from the direction of Rome, the bridge is found after Tivoli Terme and before Hadrian's Villa. This bridge was part of the project for the most endangered monuments of the World Monuments Fund for the year 2010.

History

The bridge which dates to the first century BC crosses the Aniene in the vicinity of Tibur (Tivoli) and consists of seven stone arches[1] which carried traffic on the via Tiburtina 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, 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 Venox 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:[2]

M PLAVTIVS | M F ANIEN | LVCANVS | TI. CLAVDIVS | TI. F PAL. | NERO. AED. CVR | PR. CENS. TTVIR. V | M. XIV[3]

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.

Notes and references

  1. ↑ http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/54210/possibly-altobelli-molins-ponte-lucano-tivoli-italian-about-1860-1870/%7C Here one can appreciate six of the seven arches in a picture dating to the years 1860–1870
  2. ↑ Moorby, Nicola (1 December 2012). 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. Tate. ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8.
  3. ↑ Nicola 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

41°57′18″N 12°45′42″E / 41.9549°N 12.7618°E / 41.9549; 12.7618

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