The Ponte Altinate is a
Roman bridge
The ancient Romans were the first civilization to build large, permanent bridges. Early Roman bridges used techniques introduced by Etruscan immigrants, but the Romans improved those skills, developing and enhancing methods such as arches and k ...
in
Padua
Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. The
late Republican bridge once spanned a branch of the
Brenta river
The Brenta is an Italian river that runs from Trentino to the Adriatic Sea just south of the Venetian lagoon in the Veneto region, in the north-east of Italy.
During the Roman era, it was called Medoacus (Ancient Greek: ''Mediochos'', ''Μηδ ...
whose course is today followed by the street ''Riviera del Ponti Romani''. The structure is located at the crossing with ''Via Altinate'' and, lying underground, completely obstructed from view by the modern pavement.
The rise-to-span ratio is 1:4 for the main arch and 1:3.7 for the two lateral ones, while the ratio of pier thickness to
clear span is c. 1:5.
Close by is the similarly inaccessible Roman bridge
Ponte San Lorenzo
The Ponte San Lorenzo is a Roman bridge over the river Bacchiglione in Padua, Italy. Constructed between 47 and 30 BC, it is one of the very earliest segmental arched bridges in the world. It is also notable for the slenderness of its piers, ...
which is open to visitors at fixed hours though.
See also
*
Ponte Molino
*
List of Roman bridges
This is a list of Roman bridges. The Roman Empire, Romans were the world's first major bridge builders. The following constitutes an attempt to list all known surviving remains of Roman bridges.
A Roman bridge in the sense of this article in ...
References
Sources
*
Roman bridges in Italy
Roman segmental arch bridges
Deck arch bridges
Stone bridges in Italy
Bridges completed in the 1st century BC
Bridges in Padua
1st-century BC establishments in the Roman Republic
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