Ponte Fabricio: nuove acquisizioni dal restauro

This study was inspired by the restoration of the Fabricio Bridge, a structure essentially belonging to the Roman period (62 BC), but subjected to significant interventions – of which the literary sources provide few indications – in the course of more than 20 centuries of history. The restoration has therefore been of great importance to gain new information on the monument. In fact, it was possible to carry out some investigations with excellent results: first-of-all the archaeological evidence of two non-marginal interventions in the Imperial period. Furthermore, the accurate analysis of the large central pila made it possible to recognize the renovations, partly structural, attributed to Pope Eugene IV (1431-1447); it was also possible to identify the interventions carried out on the tympanum and arches of the building, in 1679, by Innocent XI. In addition, the execution of two logs enabled the definition of the inner part of the structure which was revealed different from what had been assumed. Finally, the particularly interesting discovery of a section of the original phase in the basement of a building in the Tiber Island was a fundamental element to define the overall configuration of the Fabricio Bridge.