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The Great Roman Bridge at Narni

[image ALT: A huge ruined stone bridge, or at least the first large arch of it since the others have to a large extent collapsed. It is seen from the level of the carriageway; in the background, about 20 km worth of scenery: populated area nearest the viewer, almost a city, with a church belfry rather prominent; in the distance, a mountain. It is a view of southern Umbria in central Italy from about ten meters away from the Roman bridge at Narni.]

You are looking 10° E of due north, along the path of the Flaminia Vetus towards Carsulae.

The upper surface of the bridge is the roadbed, with 20c restoration, of the Via Flaminia. It is roughly 140 m above sea level, nearly 25 m higher than the modern bridge (offscreen to your left): the vertical drop to the River Nar is some 45 meters. In the distant haze you see the southern end of the Colli Martani that divides central Umbria into west and east valleys and accounts for the geography of the Flaminia (see clickmap below). With some slight changes this lens shape, reflected in the modern railroad and road system, still dominates central Umbria.

Moving a few steps to our right, to the other side of the abutment, we can see that at the far end, the Roman road was forced into a turn of about 30° to the right:

[image ALT: A huge ruined stone bridge, or at least the first large arch of it since the others have to a large extent collapsed. It is seen from the level of the carriageway; in the background, about 5 km worth of scenery: populated area nearest the viewer, almost a city, with a church rather prominent; in the distance, a modern highway ramp on tall stilts. It is a view of the Roman bridge at Narni, Umbria (central Italy).]

While I grind out the appropriate HTML and scan the images, see Augustus Hare's comments on the bridge along with his good sketch of it and another sketch by him of the nearby medieval bridge; precious since nothing now remains of it.

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Page updated: 7 Dec 17

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