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.
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]
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.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
Tivoli is a town and comune in Lazio, central Italy, 30 kilometres north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river where it issues from the Sabine hills. The city offers a wide view over the Roman Campagna.
Aulus Plautius was a Roman politician and general of the mid-1st century. He began the Roman conquest of Britain in 43, and became the first governor of the new province, serving from 43 to 46.
The Aniene, formerly known as the Teverone, is a 99-kilometer (62 mi) river in Lazio, Italy. It originates in the Apennines at Trevi nel Lazio and flows westward past Subiaco, Vicovaro, and Tivoli to join the Tiber in northern Rome. It formed the principal valley east of ancient Rome and became an important water source as the city's population expanded. The falls at Tivoli were noted for their beauty. Historic bridges across the river include the Ponte Nomentano, Ponte Mammolo, Ponte Salario, and Ponte di San Francesco, all of which were originally fortified with towers.
Via Tiburtina is an ancient road in Italy leading east-northeast from Rome to Tivoli and then, with the via Valeria, on to Pescara.
The Via Valeria was an ancient Roman road of Italy, the continuation north-eastwards of the Via Tiburtina from Tibur. It probably owed its origin to Marcus Valerius Messalla, censor in 154 BC.
The Pons Fabricius or Ponte dei Quattro Capi, is the oldest Roman bridge in Rome, Italy, still existing in its original state. Built in 62 BC, it spans half of the Tiber River, from the Campus Martius on the east side to Tiber Island in the middle. Quattro Capi refers to the two marble pillars of the two-faced Janus herms on the parapet, which were moved here from the nearby Church of St Gregory in the 14th century.
Pomponia Graecina was a noble Roman woman of the 1st century who was related to the Julio-Claudian dynasty. She was the wife of Aulus Plautius, the general who led the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD, and was renowned as one of the few people who dared to publicly mourn the death of a kinswoman killed by the Imperial family. It has been speculated that she was an early Christian. She is identified by some as Lucina or Lucy, a saint honoured by the Roman Catholic Church.
The Pons Cestius is an ancient Roman bridge connecting the right bank of the Tiber with the west bank of Tiber Island in Rome, Italy. In Late Antiquity, the bridge was replaced and renamed the Pons Gratiani. It is also known as Ponte San Bartolomeo. No more than one third of the present stone bridge is of ancient material, as it was entirely rebuilt and extended in the 19th century after numerous earlier restorations.
Marcus Plautius Silvanus was a Roman politician and general active during the Principate. He was consul in 2 BC as the colleague of the emperor Augustus.
Settecamini is the 6th zona of Rome, identified by the initials Z. VI.. Settecamini is also the name of the urban zone 5L, within the Municipio V of Rome.
The Vatican Necropolis lies under the Vatican City, at depths varying between 5–12 metres below Saint Peter's Basilica. The Vatican sponsored archaeological excavations under Saint Peter's in the years 1940–1949 which revealed parts of a necropolis dating to Imperial times. The work was undertaken at the request of Pope Pius XI who wished to be buried as close as possible to Peter the Apostle. It is also home to the Tomb of the Julii, which has been dated to the third or fourth century. The necropolis was not originally one of the Catacombs of Rome, but an open-air cemetery with tombs and mausolea.
The Aqua Marcia is one of the longest of the eleven aqueducts that supplied the city of Rome. The aqueduct was built between 144–140 BC, during the Roman Republic. The still-functioning Acqua Felice from 1586 runs on long stretches along the route of the Aqua Marcia.
The Bridge of Augustus is a Roman arch bridge in the Italian city Narni in Umbria, built to carry the Flaminian Way over the river Nera. Of the original four spans of the 160-metre-long (520 ft) bridge, only the southernmost remains standing.
The gens Plautia, sometimes written Plotia, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens first appear in history in the middle of the fourth century BC, when Gaius Plautius Proculus obtained the consulship soon after that magistracy was opened to the plebeian order by the Licinio-Sextian rogations. Little is heard of the Plautii from the period of the Samnite Wars down to the late second century BC, but from then to imperial times they regularly held the consulship and other offices of importance. In the first century AD, the emperor Claudius, whose first wife was a member of this family, granted patrician status to one branch of the Plautii.
The gens Rusticelia, occasionally spelled Rusticellia, was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. Hardly any members of this gens are mentioned in ancient writers, but a number are known from inscriptions.
The Terebinth of Nero was a mausoleum built in ancient Rome that is important for historical, religious and architectural reasons. By the 14th century, it was almost completely demolished.
In Ancient Rome, the Ager Vaticanus was the alluvial plain on the right (west) bank of the Tiber. It was also called Ripa Veientana or Ripa Etrusca, indicating the Etruscan dominion during the archaic period. It was located between the Janiculum, the Vatican Hill, and Monte Mario, down to the Aventine Hill and up to the confluence of the Cremera creek.
Tor Cervara is the 7th zona of the Italian capital Rome, identified by the initials Z. VII. It belongs to the Municipio IV and has 13,975 inhabitants (2016). It is located in the east of the city, within the Grande Raccordo Anulare, and has an area of 5.9000 km2.
The gens Suetonia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the reign of Claudius, under whom the general Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, consul in AD 66, won his first military victories; but the family is perhaps best known for the historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, who flourished toward the beginning of the second century.
The Sanctuary of Hercules Victor in Tivoli (Italy) was one of the major complexes of the Roman Republican era built on the wave of the Hellenistic cultural influence after the final Roman conquest of Greece. It was built just outside the ancient city of Tibur and is the largest of Italic sanctuaries dedicated to Hercules, and the second in the whole Mediterranean after that of Cádiz in Spain. It was built between about 120 and 82 BC and was a masterpiece of Roman engineering with many innovations. Further building was done in the Augustan period especially in the theatre area. Augustus administered justice here on numerous occasions, under the arcades of the sanctuary.
