Ponte Viadotto-Acquedotto Madonna della Stella

Gravina in Puglia's Madonna della Stella bridge crosses the ravine on two tiers of arches. First built as a route to the rock church of Madonna della Stella, it was rebuilt by the Orsini family in the eighteenth century to carry an aqueduct and restored as a pedestrian crossing in the twenty-first.

Why it matters

The stone viaduct spans the torrent once called the Crapo. It measures about ninety metres long, thirty-seven metres high and five and a half metres wide, with two superimposed orders of arches. Its first purpose was devotional, allowing worshippers to reach the sanctuary across the gorge. The FAI's 2020 “I Luoghi del Cuore” census ranked it seventh, with 25,726 votes, and its enhancement project introduced scenic lighting in 2024. The bridge also appeared in the 2021 film No Time to Die, where it stood in for a location in neighbouring Matera.

What to notice

The double-decked structure is built in local calcarenite, echoing the stone of the ravine. After the Orsini family rebuilt it in the mid-eighteenth century, the bridge carried water from the springs of Sant'Angelo and San Giacomo toward Gravina. Fountains at either end served the town, and two survive. From the span, the view takes in the old-town quarters, the ravine floor and the sanctuary at the far end.

Context and history

The bridge was documented by 1686 and collapsed in the 1722 earthquake. The Orsini rebuilt it in the middle of the eighteenth century as an aqueduct, a role it kept until the modern water network made it redundant. Restoration and consolidation in the twenty-first century addressed centuries of accretions, vegetation and cracking; the FAI-linked lighting project followed in 2024. The structure thus records successive roles as a pilgrimage crossing, aqueduct and pedestrian bridge.