Ponte di Augusto

The Via Flaminia crossed the Nera gorge below Narni on the monumental Ponte di Augusto, built under Augustus around 27 BC. One great arch still rises above the riverbed, alongside fallen blocks of travertine masonry. The ruin became a subject for Grand Tour artists, including Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.

Why it matters

The bridge carried the Via Flaminia between the Roman municipium of Narnia and Carsulae. The original bridge extended nearly 130 metres, with four arches and a roadway about eight metres wide. Procopius and Martial are among the ancient writers who praised it. Today the surviving arch and fallen masonry preserve the scale of this Roman crossing.

What to notice

The remaining arch shows the squared, rusticated travertine masonry. Its alignment belongs to the ancient route of the Via Flaminia, which crossed the gorge here. The nearby Sanctuary of Madonna del Ponte stands beside the ruins; the old railway line on the opposite bank is now part of the gorge's cycle and pedestrian route.

Context and history

Accounts differ on the later sequence of collapses: medieval chronicles record its destruction in 1053, while the regional tourism authority describes earlier collapse and earthquake damage in 847, followed by the loss of the upper structure around 1000. The ruin continued to lose masonry, and a pier fell on 14 July 1885. During the Grand Tour, Corot painted the bridge in the 1820s; his view is now in the Louvre.