Ponte Sisto historical timeline

Last updated on October 4, 2026

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A Roman bridge, a flood or an invasion, seven centuries called the broken bridge, and a papal rebuild driven by a fatal crush on another crossing.

Chronology

12 BC — a Roman bridge stands here, built perhaps by Agrippa, son-in-law of Augustus. Structural impact: piers in the river at this point. What you see today: the foundations — the reference work records that the 15th-century bridge reused the foundations of the prior Roman bridge.
147 — after restorations willed by Antoninus Pius, the bridge is identified as the Pons Aurelius or Pons Antonini. Structural impact: a repair, not a rebuilding. What you see today: the name the Roman bridge is known by — and the correction to the common belief that Antoninus built it.
4th–5th centuries — the Pons Aurelius is first mentioned by authors. Structural impact: none. What you see today: the beginning of the written record.
772 or 792 — the bridge is wrecked, and the sources disagree on how. The reference work: partially destroyed in 772, at the time the Lombard king Desiderius took Rome. Turismo Roma: gravely compromised by the flood and subsequent overflowing of the Tiber of 792. Structural impact: the crossing is lost. What you see today: the reason there is a Renaissance bridge on Roman foundations.
Middle Ages — the ruin is known as Pons Antoninus, Pons Antonini in Arenula and Pons Ianicularis, and commonly called the broken bridge — Ponte Rotto. Structural impact: none; it stays broken. What you see today: seven hundred years in which this was a gap, not a crossing.
1450 — a disaster occurs in the Jubilee through the crowding of the Bridge of Sant'Angelo, which was the only available means of communication with Saint Peter's. Structural impact: none here. What you see today: the reason this bridge was built at all.
1473–1479 — Sixtus IV della Rovere rebuilds the bridge for the Jubilee of 1475, to connect Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere and the Vatican with the rest of the city. The reference work gives the construction as 1473 to 1479 and, citing Creighton, says it was built of blocks from the Colosseum. Structural impact: four travertine arches on Roman foundations, with an oculus through the central spandrel to reduce the river's pressure in flood. What you see today: the bridge.
15th century, disputed — the design is attributed to Baccio Pontelli by the reference work, following Vasari. Turismo Roma records that this attribution has fallen and the author is unresolved, since Pontelli reached Rome only after the bridge was built. Structural impact: none. What you see today: an unattributed bridge.
1475 — two marble slabs are set up bearing a Latin inscription composed by the Renaissance humanist Bartolomeo Platina in honour of Sixtus IV. Structural impact: none. What you see today: not the originals — see below.
1877 — after the Unification of Italy, growing traffic leads to the addition of two metal walkways suspended on corbels along the flanks, designed by Angelo Vescovali (1826–1895). Structural impact: the deck is widened in iron. What you see today: nothing — they are gone.
20th century — the soft iron and cast iron of the walkways deteriorate, without any maintenance being possible. Structural impact: a failing 19th-century addition on a sound 15th-century bridge. What you see today: the reason they were removed.
1990s — the reference work records the two marble slabs removed after continued vandalism, with copies placed on the left bridge head. Structural impact: none. What you see today: copies, not originals.
2000 — the restoration is entrusted to Gaetano Miarelli Mariani, who removes the nineteenth-century metal structures and has new parapets made, returning the bridge to its fifteenth-century appearance, partly using original travertine elements. Turismo Roma records that the tablets were removed to preserve them from the ravages of time and the texts transcribed on the new parapets facing via Giulia. Structural impact: the bridge is returned to its Renaissance section. What you see today: everything, as restored.

Verified against Turismo Roma, October 2026.

External resources

Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against Turismo Roma — Turismo Roma records that Ponte Sisto was built by Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere, who reigned from 1471 to 1484, on the occasion of the Jubilee of 1475, Turismo Roma records that in its place there anciently stood a Roman bridge, by then too damaged, built perhaps by Agrippa, son-in-law of Augustus, and dating to 12 BC, and that in the year 147, thanks to restorations willed by Antoninus Pius, it was identified as the Pons Aurelius or Pons Antonini, Turismo Roma records that the Roman bridge was gravely compromised by the flood and subsequent overflowing of the Tiber of 792 and was called Ponte Rotto, the broken bridge, until its complete reconstruction in 1473 — where the reference work dates the destruction to 772 and attributes it to the Lombard king Desiderius taking Rome, Turismo Roma records that the problem of identifying the author of the design of Ponte Sisto remains unresolved, the Vasarian attribution to the Florentine architect Baccio Pontelli, who lived from about 1450 to 1492, having fallen because he reached Rome only after the bridge was built — where the reference work states that Sixtus IV commissioned the bridge from Baccio Pontelli, Turismo Roma records that after the Unification of Italy, because of growing traffic needs, it was decided in 1877 to increase the section of Ponte Sisto by adding two metal walkways along its flanks suspended on corbels, to a design by Angelo Vescovali, and that over time the poor resistance of the materials used, soft iron and cast iron, caused the two structures to deteriorate without any maintenance being possible, Turismo Roma records that in 2000 the restoration of Ponte Sisto was entrusted to the architect Gaetano Miarelli Mariani, who removed the nineteenth-century metal structures and had new parapets made, returning the bridge to its fifteenth-century appearance, partly by using some original travertine elements, Turismo Roma records that the two tablets Sixtus IV had placed to commemorate the building of Ponte Sisto were removed to preserve them from the ravages of time, and that in their place the texts were transcribed on the new parapets facing via Giulia — where the reference work says the slabs were removed in the 1990s after continued vandalism and copies set on the left bridge head (October 2026).
Checked against Wikipedia — Ponte Sisto spans the Tiber in Rome's historic centre, connecting Via dei Pettinari in the Rione of Regola to Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere, and the construction of the current bridge occurred between 1473 and 1479, The reference work states that Ponte Sisto was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV, after whom it is named, from the architect Baccio Pontelli, who reused the foundations of a prior Roman bridge, the Pons Aurelius, also known as the Pons Antoninus, which had been destroyed during the early Middle Ages — an attribution Turismo Roma says has fallen, According to Mandell Creighton's History of the Papacy, the Sistine Bridge was built of blocks from the Colosseum, and Sixtus was mindful of the disaster that had occurred in the Jubilee of 1450 through the crowding of the Bridge of Sant'Angelo, which was the only available means of communication with Saint Peter's, The Pons Antoninus was partially destroyed in 772, at the time the Lombard king Desiderius took Rome, and rebuilt in its current form by Pope Sixtus IV, whose name it carries to this day — where Turismo Roma dates the destruction to the Tiber flood of 792, On the left bridge head of Ponte Sisto are placed copies of two marble slabs, removed in the 1990s after continued vandalism, bearing an elegant Latin inscription composed by the Renaissance humanist Bartolomeo Platina in honour of Sixtus IV on the occasion of the construction of the bridge, The predecessor bridge to Ponte Sisto, the Pons Aurelius, was first mentioned by authors in the 4th and 5th centuries and was later known in the Middle Ages as Pons Antoninus, Pons Antonini in Arenula, and Pons Ianicularis, commonly named the broken bridge (October 2026).

Ponte Sisto historical timeline

Chronology

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