A book of bridges

There was in Italy a Roman bridge built of white Istrian stone that Palladio admired much more than any other; indeed, he admired it too much, for he copied it in most of his pontine architecture, as if he had no right to make use of his own originality! And since his time many architects have cribbed from the same shining model, the Ponte Augustus over the Ariminus, at Rimini. Two Roman bridges are found in the neighbourhood of this town, one with seven arches and one with five; both date from the same great era, and in both the roadway is not carried through on the same level, but has an ascent at each end, like the two bridges of Roman origin at Vicenza. It was the bridge with five arches that Palladio preferred at Rimini, and his fondness for it—or, rather, for her, as this Roman bridge has a charm somewhat feminine—is approved by recent experts, and notably by R. Phené Spiers and M. Degrand. She is a bijou among bridges, and not a male prodigy, like the Puente Trajan. Her arches are small in span, ranging from 8m.77 to 7m.14, according to Gauthey, [79] the narrower ones being at the sides, and the three larger bays in the middle. Their form is semicircular, and their springing does not rise from low water-level, like that of the arches in the Roman bridge at Mérida; it is placed four or five metres[80] above low water, and this planning adds lightness and grace to a fortunate design. As usual, the piers are too heavy, their thickness being about equal to a half of the adjacent voids; they are protected by very vigorous cutwaters that break the current with angular wedges of ninety degrees. The spandrils are decorated with niches, and every niche is flanked by pilasters carrying entablature and pediment. A beautiful cornice supported by modillions crowns this bridge, which was begun by Augustus and finished by Tiberius.

Brangwyn is fascinated by the bridges at Ascoli-Piceno, the Asculum Picenum of the Romans, that gleams on a terrace dominating the Tronto, about twenty miles from Porto Ascoli on the Adriatic. The town is defended by ravines, across which four great bridges are thrown. The Ponte di Porta Cappucina is a Roman bridge, a fine example with a single arch of 71 ft. span; and the Ponte de Cecco is Roman. It has two arches and belongs to the Via Salaria. As for the Ponte Maggiore and the Ponte Cartaro, they are mediæval, but the former is an adaptation from Roman aqueducts, and in the latter there appear to be some traces of antique craftsmanship. All these great viaducts are marvellously constructed, for they resisted the earthquake that shook Ascoli in 1878.