093.

Ponte quattro Capi

This view of the Tiber Island (1) looking upstream, is the companion view of the downstream one, Plate 91, but is taken from a greater distance on the east bank near the floating mulino (5) (grain mill) and tower. Both features can be observed clearly on the Nolli map just downstream from Ponte Rotto (4); see also Plate 94A. The "broken" (rotto) bridge is what was left of the ancient Pons Aemilius built in 179 BC. Twice collapsed and restored in the middle ages when it was called Ponte S. Maria, the bridge was rebuilt on the ancient piers during the reign of Gregory XIII (1572-85), whose dragon coat of arms is barely visible in the spandrels of the arches in this print. It collapsed again in 1598 and remained in the condition we see here until 1853 when a suspension span was built to reconnect it with the east bank. This, together with the two masonry arches nearest Trastevere (the far bank), was demolished in the 1880s for the building of the river walls. Today only the near arch survives. The bridge gives its name to the church whose facade appears at the left edge of the print: S. Salvatore a Ponte Rotto (NN 1108). Between the two tall buildings seen to the right of S. Salvatore is the pyramidal top of S. Crisogono's bell tower, Plate 119. Of the two bridges connecting the Isola Tiberina to the mainland, only Ponte Fabricio (2) on the right retains its ancient (62 BC) structure nearly intact. The contemporary Ponte Cestio (3) was heavily restructured in the 1880s with the enlargement of the two side arches. In the distance, beyond Ponte Fabricio on the right, we see the same huddled riverside buildings of the Ghetto which appear more distinctly in the companion view, Plate 91. The dome and tympanum of S. Carlo ai Catinari, Plate 136, rise above the roofs of the Ghetto.