Overview
The Milvian (or Mulvian) Bridge (Italian: Ponte Milvio or Ponte Molle; Latin: Pons Milvius or Pons Mulvius) is a bridge over the Tiber in northern Rome, Italy. It was an economically and strategically important bridge in the era of the Roman Empire and was the site of the famous Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, which led to the imperial rule of Constantine.
Details
Visit Type: Open Access
Co-ordinates: 41.935516, 12.466955
Map
History
A bridge was built by consul Gaius Claudius Nero in 206 BC after he had defeated the Carthaginian army in the Battle of the Metaurus. In 109 BC, censor Marcus Aemilius Scaurus built a new bridge of stone in the same position, demolishing the old one. In 63 BC, letters from the conspirators of the Catiline conspiracy were intercepted here, allowing Cicero to read them to the Roman Senate the next day. In AD 312, Constantine I defeated his stronger rival Maxentius between this bridge and Saxa Rubra, in the famous Battle of the Milvian Bridge.
During the Middle Ages, the bridge was renovated by a monk named Acuzio, and in 1429 Pope Martin V asked a famous architect, Francesco da Genazzano, to repair it because it was collapsing. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the bridge was modified by two architects, Giuseppe Valadier and Domenico Pigiani.
The bridge was badly damaged in 1849 by Garibaldi's troops, in an attempt to block a French invasion, and later repaired by Pope Pius IX in 1850.
In January 1873 the novelist Henry James, an unlikely yet adequate horseman, made the Ponte Milvio the first of many Roman destinations on horseback. He commented “I can stick on a horse better than I supposed.”
Nearby Locations
Location | Distance | Direction |
---|---|---|
Museo Leonardo da Vinci (Piazza del Popolo) | 1.74 miles | SSE |
Piazza del Popolo | 1.78 miles | SSE |
Vatican Museums | 2.11 miles | SSW |
Spanish Steps | 2.19 miles | SSE |
Castel Sant'Angelo | 2.27 miles | S |
Ponte Sant'Angelo | 2.28 miles | S |
St Peter's Square | 2.36 miles | SSW |
St. Peter's Basilica | 2.40 miles | SSW |
Vatican Necropolis | 2.40 miles | SSW |
Capuchin Crypt | 2.41 miles | SSE |
Vatican Gardens | 2.41 miles | SSW |
Stadium of Domitian (Piazza Navona Underground) | 2.47 miles | S |
Trevi Fountain | 2.51 miles | SSE |
Piazza Navona | 2.56 miles | S |
Vicus Caprarius (Trevi Fountain Underground) | 2.58 miles | SSE |
Pantheon | 2.60 miles | S |
Baths of Diocletian | 2.70 miles | SE |
Victor Emmanuel II Monument (Altare della Patria) | 2.91 miles | SSE |
Trajan's Market | 2.93 miles | SSE |
Trajan's Forum | 2.93 miles | SSE |