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Pontebari (near Spoleto):
Remains of a Bridge of Uncertain Age

Bridge over the Torrente Marroggia in central Umbria: 42°46N, 12°43.3E • Altitude: 260 m

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You are looking SW at the Marroggia as it flows toward you. Ignoring the pier framing the picture on the right, which belongs to the modern bridge, consider the unpromising piles of stone on either side of the river: I like to think they might be the remains of a Roman bridge.

This is pretty much all that's left of the east pier, which you don't see much of in my first picture:


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The smaller stones here might be anything — Vol. II of the Manuali per il Territorio (p594) calls them witnesses to a reconstruction of the older bridge in the 12th or thirteenth century — but the massive cleanly cut block supporting them looks Roman to me; and the "new" branch of the Via Flaminia does in fact run from Spoleto northwards to the source of the Clitumnus: if not exactly here, then no more than half a mile away is my guess.


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Click on the photo to zoom in on the masonry of the west pier; and if you have an opinion or an excavation report to share, drop me a line, of course.


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Page updated: 8 Dec 23