Ponte di San Vito

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The Roman Bridge of San Vito (Italian: Ponte romano di San Vito), also locally known as the Pontaccio (Romagnol: e Puntaz, lit. 'ugly bridge'), was a Roman bridge in San Vito, a frazione on the borders of Rimini, Santarcangelo di Romagna, and San Mauro Pascoli, in the region of Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. Dating to the reign of emperor Augustus, the bridge was on a route of the Via Aemilia, the ancient Roman road running between Ariminum (modern Rimini) and Placentia (Piacenza). The bridge crossed the river Uso, which now flows a few metres to the east. In the 14th century, Galeotto I Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, replaced the bridge; an arch of the medieval bridge remains extant above the Augustan stones. The stones of the bridges, prized for their excellent quality, were quarried over subsequent centuries, contributing also to restorations of Rimini's Ponte di Tiberio. In October 2022, Rimini's municipal government incorporated the extant arch into a public park. The Augustan bridge was likely monumental, with a total length of approximately 90 metres (300 feet), and numbering eight or more arches. In recent centuries, Riminese historians have claimed the bridge as the place where...

The Ponte di San Vito was almost certainly built during the reign of Roman emperor Augustus, given both the stones and a milestone recovered a few metres from the bridge in 1949, which attributes the restoration of the road to Augustus' commission in 2 BC. It was built on the Via Aemilia, an ancient Roman road between Ariminum (modern Rimini ) and Placentia ( Piacenza ) that dates to Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in 187 BC. The section of the Via Aemilia between Savignano sul Rubicone and Santa Giustina, now known as the Via Emilia Vecchia, replaced an earlier routing of the road through Santarcangelo di Romagna. The Augustan bridge likely replaced an earlier bridge. It crossed the river Uso [ it ], which flows from Perticara [ it ], a frazione of Novafeltria, to the Adriatic Sea in Bellaria–Igea Marina. The river now flows a few metres to the bridge's east.

In the 14th century, Galeotto I Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, replaced the Augustan bridge in an effort to reduce the importance of Santarcangelo, which had become a vicariate under the Avignon popes. An arch of the medieval bridge remains extant above the Augustan stones.

In later centuries, following the medieval bridge's collapse, San Vito was renowned as a quarry, using the stones from the Augustan bridge, which were notable for their excellent quality. The stones were used to repave the floor of Rimini's Santa Colomba cathedral, and may also have been used for the construction of the Tempio Malatestiano. In 1550, Leandro Alberti wrote in his Descrittione di tutta Italia that "there was anciently here on the Via Emilia a stone bridge... of which the vestiges appear to this day".

In 1680, Agostino Martinelli, an amateur Ferrarese architect entrusted with restoring an arch of Rimini's Ponte d'Augusto, recovered blocks of white Aurisina limestone from the river at San Vito; the blocks were identical to those of the Riminese bridge. In 1735, Giulio Alberoni allowed further "marbles that remain of the ancient ruins... that are now uselessly underwater" to be removed for the restoration of the Ponte d'Augusto.

Until the Second World War, during dry seasons, the remains of a limestone block, known as le Genghe, rose from the Uso's riverbed; the block was used by San Vito's women to wash clothes. It was located a few dozen metres from the extant arch. In 1959, an excavation by Riccardo Gizdulich [ it ] identified the bridge as medieval.

In 1988, local historian Giovanni Rimondini published a collection of evidence for the Augustan bridge. The collection was followed by an archaeological excavation in 2004, commissioned by Rimini's municipal government and led by local archaeologist Marcello Cartoceti, at the urging of the local parish priest. The excavation uncovered the remains of the Augustan bridge underneath the surviving medieval arch. The first trench of the excavation proceeded from an extant structure towards the river, uncovering only earth and gravel. A second trench towards the village church uncovered a breakwater spur that suggested that the startpoint was a pier. Exposing the upstream part of the spur, the excavation uncovered regularly-shaped stones from the Roman bridge, and a medieval pier a few centimetres below the original trench.

Beginning in the 2000s, Rimini's municipal government purchased the area around the arch in two stages. In 2021, it announced that it would redevelop the area, providing it with public access and enabling summer recreational initiatives. Local residents had requested that the bridge become a cultural space for over twenty years. The following year, excavations associated with the redevelopment recovered paving of the Via Aemilia. On 16 October 2022, the redevelopment was inaugurated Jamil Sadegholvaad, Rimini's mayor. The extant arch is surrounded by a circular walkway, and is accessible from the village church. The paths are lit by night.

The Ponte di San Vito was almost certainly built during the reign of Roman emperor Augustus, given both the stones and a milestone recovered a few metres from the bridge in 1949, which attributes the restoration of the road to Augustus' commission in 2 BC. It was built on the Via Aemilia, an ancient Roman road between Ariminum (modern Rimini ) and Placentia ( Piacenza ) that dates to Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in 187 BC. The section of the Via Aemilia between Savignano sul Rubicone and Santa Giustina, now known as the Via Emilia Vecchia, replaced an earlier routing of the road through Santarcangelo di Romagna. The Augustan bridge likely replaced an earlier bridge. It crossed the river Uso [ it ], which flows from Perticara [ it ], a frazione of Novafeltria, to the Adriatic Sea in Bellaria–Igea Marina. The river now flows a few metres to the bridge's east.

In the 14th century, Galeotto I Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, replaced the Augustan bridge in an effort to reduce the importance of Santarcangelo, which had become a vicariate under the Avignon popes. An arch of the medieval bridge remains extant above the Augustan stones.

In later centuries, following the medieval bridge's collapse, San Vito was renowned as a quarry, using the stones from the Augustan bridge, which were notable for their excellent quality. The stones were used to repave the floor of Rimini's Santa Colomba cathedral, and may also have been used for the construction of the Tempio Malatestiano. In 1550, Leandro Alberti wrote in his Descrittione di tutta Italia that "there was anciently here on the Via Emilia a stone bridge... of which the vestiges appear to this day".

In 1680, Agostino Martinelli, an amateur Ferrarese architect entrusted with restoring an arch of Rimini's Ponte d'Augusto, recovered blocks of white Aurisina limestone from the river at San Vito; the blocks were identical to those of the Riminese bridge. In 1735, Giulio Alberoni allowed further "marbles that remain of the ancient ruins... that are now uselessly underwater" to be removed for the restoration of the Ponte d'Augusto.

Until the Second World War, during dry seasons, the remains of a limestone block, known as le Genghe, rose from the Uso's riverbed; the block was used by San Vito's women to wash clothes. It was located a few dozen metres from the extant arch. In 1959, an excavation by Riccardo Gizdulich [ it ] identified the bridge as medieval.

In 1988, local historian Giovanni Rimondini published a collection of evidence for the Augustan bridge. The collection was followed by an archaeological excavation in 2004, commissioned by Rimini's municipal government and led by local archaeologist Marcello Cartoceti, at the urging of the local parish priest. The excavation uncovered the remains of the Augustan bridge underneath the surviving medieval arch. The first trench of the excavation proceeded from an extant structure towards the river, uncovering only earth and gravel. A second trench towards the village church uncovered a breakwater spur that suggested that the startpoint was a pier. Exposing the upstream part of the spur, the excavation uncovered regularly-shaped stones from the Roman bridge, and a medieval pier a few centimetres below the original trench.

Beginning in the 2000s, Rimini's municipal government purchased the area around the arch in two stages. In 2021, it announced that it would redevelop the area, providing it with public access and enabling summer recreational initiatives. Local residents had requested that the bridge become a cultural space for over twenty years. The following year, excavations associated with the redevelopment recovered paving of the Via Aemilia. On 16 October 2022, the redevelopment was inaugurated Jamil Sadegholvaad, Rimini's mayor. The extant arch is surrounded by a circular walkway, and is accessible from the village church. The paths are lit by night.

The bridge is made of white limestone blocks from Aurisina, known as Istrian stone. It also used ammonitic red limestone blocks from Verona, similar to those used as a foundation slab in the Augustan bridge at Savignano sul Rubicone.

The bridge's total length was likely approximately 90 metres (300 feet), longer than Rimini's Ponte di Tiberio, as also suggested by the number of recovered stones. In 2019, to explain the bridge's length, Rimondini hypothesised that there may have been two bridges, crossing the Uso at different meanders, to which Cartoceti replied that, locally, the Romans more commonly built one large bridge over wide rivers than two separate ones.

An 1825 sketch by local engineer Maurizio Brighenti indicated the area where the foundations of the bridge's piers would emerge from the riverbed during dry seasons. The sketch suggested that the bridge numbered eight or more arches, ending on the right bank of the present-day Uso. After being published by Rimondini, Brighenti's sketches were lost in Forlì 's state archives.

The 2004 excavation suggested that two arches had a diameter of at least 5.6 metres (18 feet), while the pier had a thickness of 2.9 metres (9.5 feet).

For historians that identify the Uso with Julius Caesar 's historic crossing of the Rubicon in 49 BC, which opened Caesar's civil war, the Ponte di San Vito would have been the point of Caesar's crossing. With the exception of Luigi Tonini [ it ], most Riminese local historians favoured the Uso's claim over that of Savignano di Romagna 's Fiumicino and the Pisciatello, a tributary of the Fiumincino that flows nearer Cesena. Local historians and archaeologists have advocated further archaeological excavation of the Ponte di San Vito to understand these uncertainties.