Ponte Gobbo

Bobbio's Ponte Gobbo, also called Ponte Vecchio or Ponte del Diavolo, crosses the Trebbia with eleven irregular arches.

Why it matters

The bridge is a defining landmark of Bobbio and reflects the changing relationship between the town and the Trebbia. Its uneven profile, from which the name Hunchbacked Bridge derives, records centuries of repair and rebuilding after floods.

What to notice

The eleven arches vary in height and span, producing the bridge's distinctive undulating line. A 1696 ex-voto preserved in Bobbio's diocesan museum depicts an earlier form with seven arches. A local legend attributes the bridge's construction to the devil, who demanded the soul of the first being to cross; the townspeople sent a dog instead.

Context and history

The age of the first crossing is uncertain, though evidence of early settlement and trade in the area suggests a crossing may have existed before Columbanus arrived in 614. Floods in 1452 and 1472 nearly destroyed the bridge. Repairs and rebuilding continued through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, bringing the structure to its present form. It no longer carries heavy traffic and remains a pedestrian monument and emblem of Bobbio.