The Ponte sul Taro or Bridge over the Taro River is a bridge along the Ancient Roman via Emilia, whose present structure still incorporates the construction from 1816 to 1821, and is located just northwest of Parma, in the neighborhood of Ponte Taro of the municipality of Noceto, Region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
Bridges at this site had been erected by the Romans as part of the Via Emilia, but over time collapsed. In 1170, a hermit by the name of Nonantola rebuilt a crude bridge across the site. He was granted privileges by the bishop Bernardo II to establish a monastery and hostal/hospital at the site, ministering to pilgrims traveling along the route.
In 1235, a flood destroyed the bridge and monastic structures, leading a reconstruction by 1294. In 1325, the institution was granted to the Abbey of Fontevivo. Further floods continued to destroy attempts to bridge the river, leaving passage at the site at the mercy of boats. In 1816, Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma commissioned a permanent bridge. The structure was designed by Antonio Cocconcelli and his aide Giambattista Ferrari, with construction managed by Amedeo Rosazza. Inaugurated in 1821, in its day, the 600 meter bridge spanning 20 arches was considered a master feat of engineering. [1] It cost just over 2 million Lire at the time. [2] At each end of the span, sculpted by Giuseppe Carra, were and still are two flanking reclining statues: each representing the main rivers traversing the Duchy: Parma, Taro, Enza, and Stirone. [3]
Parma is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second most populous city in Emilia-Romagna after Bologna, the region's capital. The city is home to the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world. Parma is divided into two parts by the stream of the same name. The district on the far side of the river is Oltretorrente. Parma's Etruscan name was adapted by Romans to describe the round shield called Parma.
The Ponte Vecchio is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy. The only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during the Second World War, it is noted for the shops built along it; building shops on such bridges was once a common practice. Butchers, tanners, and farmers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewelers, art dealers, and souvenir sellers. The Ponte Vecchio's two neighboring bridges are the Ponte Santa Trinita and the Ponte alle Grazie.
The ancient Romans were the first civilization to build large, permanent bridges. Early Roman bridges used techniques introduced by Etruscan immigrants, but the Romans improved those skills, developing and enhancing methods such as arches and keystones. There were three major types of Roman bridge: wooden, pontoon, and stone. Early Roman bridges were wooden, but by the 2nd century stone was being used. Stone bridges used the arch as their basic structure, and most used concrete, the first use of this material in bridge-building.
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct may be made from a series of arches, although other more economical structures are typically used today.
The Via Aemilia was a trunk Roman road in the north Italian plain, running from Ariminum (Rimini), on the Adriatic coast, to Placentia (Piacenza) on the river Padus (Po). It was completed in 187 BC. The Via Aemilia connected at Rimini with the Via Flaminia, which had been completed 33 years earlier, to Rome.
Trajan's Bridge, also called Bridge of Apollodorus over the Danube, was a Roman segmental arch bridge, the first bridge to be built over the lower Danube and one of the greatest achievements in Roman architecture. Though it was only functional for 165 years, it is often considered to have been the longest arch bridge in both total and span length for more than 1,000 years.
The Taro is a river in Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy. It is a tributary of the Po and is 126 kilometres (78 mi) long. It flows almost entirely in the province of Parma, west of the city Parma. The Taro flows into the Po near Gramignazzo, a frazione of the comune of Sissa, north of Parma.
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.
Bedonia is a comune within the Province of Parma, in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy.
Collecchio is a town in the province of Parma, Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is located 12.9 kilometres (8.0 mi) by road southwest of the centre of Parma. A major food-producing area, it is home to multinational Italian dairy and food corporation Parmalat and the Parma F.C. training complex, Centro Sportivo di Collecchio, and is connected by railway. Under the Romans the town was called Sustrina, Later, in Christian times it was called, Colliculum, because of its location on a small hill. In 2015, Collecchio became recognized as the first community to mandate that all fireworks set off in the town be silent.
Luceria is an ancient city in the northern Apennines, located in the comune of Canossa in the Province of Reggio Emilia, on the right bank of the river Enza.
Viadana is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 120 kilometres (75 mi) southeast of Milan and about 35 kilometres (22 mi) southwest of Mantua.
The Ponte Vecchio or Ponte degli Alpini is the covered wooden designed by the architect Andrea Palladio in 1569. The bridge is located in Bassano del Grappa and was destroyed many times, the last time in World War II. The bridge spans the river Brenta.
Ponte Sisto is a bridge in Rome's historic centre, spanning the river Tiber. It connects Via dei Pettinari in the Rione of Regola to Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere.
The Ponte San Lorenzo is a Roman bridge over the river Bacchiglione in Padua, Italy. Constructed between 47 and 30 BC, it is one of the very earliest segmental arched bridges in the world. It is also notable for the slenderness of its piers, unsurpassed in antiquity.
The Milan–Bologna railway is the northern part of the traditional main north–south trunk line of the Italian railway network. It closely follows the ancient Roman Road, the Via Aemilia. The line was opened between 1859 and 1861 as a single-line railway, and was doubled between 1866 and 1894. It was electrified at 3,000 volts DC in 1938. High-speed trains on the route have used the parallel Milan–Bologna high-speed line since 13 December 2008.
The Val di Taro is the valley of the Taro river, a tributary of the Po. The valley lies almost entirely in the Province of Parma, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.
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 Aqua Anio Vetus was an ancient Roman aqueduct, and the second oldest after the Aqua Appia.
The Admiral's Bridge is a medieval bridge of Palermo, located in Piazza Scaffa. It was built over the Oreto River during the era of the Norman Sicily by the ammiratus ammiratorum George of Antioch. In 2015, it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of a series of nine civil and religious structures inscribed as Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale.
