Description
Ponte Pietra is the oldest bridge in Verona over the Adige and the only one left from Roman times. It links the historic center to San Pietro Hill, with five arches of stone and brick that tell three eras at a glance.
The thing to do is to look at the arches one by one. The two toward the countryside are Roman, in large blocks of Valpolicella stone laid without mortar. The tower on the bank and the arch next to it are Scaliger, in brick. The two in the middle, with the large roundel, are Venetian, rebuilt by Fra Giocondo.
Don't miss the river god carved on the keystone of the second Roman arch: it proves the bridge was restored in imperial times. And the little windows opened above the piers: they let the water escape in floods and also gave rhythm to the arches.
This bridge is older than the streets around it. When in 89 BC Verona became a colony and was rebuilt inside the bend of the Adige, with a grid of streets, the bridge was already there. That is why it is not aligned with the Roman streets.
The spot is no accident. Since prehistoric times there was a ford here, at the origin of the city itself: the river narrows to 92 meters and the current, after the wide bend, loses strength. A first wooden bridge was made for the Via Postumia in 148 BC; then came the stone one.
Its life has been anything but quiet. Floods and partial collapses followed one another in 1007, 1153, 1232 and 1239. In 1298 Alberto della Scala had the tower on the city side restored and the nearby arch rebuilt; in 1368 Cansignorio built an aqueduct on it that brought water to houses in the center and to the fountain of Madonna Verona, in Piazza delle Erbe.
On the bridge there were also wooden homes of boatmen and millers, shops and taverns. The little houses were removed in the early 1800s, because they did not suit the majesty of the monument.
The most serious wound dates to April 24, 1945: the retreating Germans blew it up and only the arch toward the city was left standing. The superintendent Piero Gazzola chose to rebuild it as it was and where it was.
The original blocks were recovered from the river: 529 went back into place, another 379 were added, 169 of them made from reworked original material. The work was finished on March 3, 1959.
The thing to do is to look at the arches one by one. The two toward the countryside are Roman, in large blocks of Valpolicella stone laid without mortar. The tower on the bank and the arch next to it are Scaliger, in brick. The two in the middle, with the large roundel, are Venetian, rebuilt by Fra Giocondo.
Don't miss the river god carved on the keystone of the second Roman arch: it proves the bridge was restored in imperial times. And the little windows opened above the piers: they let the water escape in floods and also gave rhythm to the arches.
This bridge is older than the streets around it. When in 89 BC Verona became a colony and was rebuilt inside the bend of the Adige, with a grid of streets, the bridge was already there. That is why it is not aligned with the Roman streets.
The spot is no accident. Since prehistoric times there was a ford here, at the origin of the city itself: the river narrows to 92 meters and the current, after the wide bend, loses strength. A first wooden bridge was made for the Via Postumia in 148 BC; then came the stone one.
Its life has been anything but quiet. Floods and partial collapses followed one another in 1007, 1153, 1232 and 1239. In 1298 Alberto della Scala had the tower on the city side restored and the nearby arch rebuilt; in 1368 Cansignorio built an aqueduct on it that brought water to houses in the center and to the fountain of Madonna Verona, in Piazza delle Erbe.
On the bridge there were also wooden homes of boatmen and millers, shops and taverns. The little houses were removed in the early 1800s, because they did not suit the majesty of the monument.
The most serious wound dates to April 24, 1945: the retreating Germans blew it up and only the arch toward the city was left standing. The superintendent Piero Gazzola chose to rebuild it as it was and where it was.
The original blocks were recovered from the river: 529 went back into place, another 379 were added, 169 of them made from reworked original material. The work was finished on March 3, 1959.