It has been a while since I last discussed a bridge in a post. The last occasion was probably when I wrote about the Ponte degli Alpini, a famous wooden bridge across the river Brenta in the charming town of Bassano del Grappa. The post I am writing now is entirely dedicated to a famous bridge in Pavia, the Ponte Coperto or “covered bridge”. It is 216 metres long and connects the centre of Pavia to the Borgo Ticino neighbourhood on the other side of the river Ticino, a tributary of the Po. Cars are nowadays required to take the Ponte della Libertà further to the west, which was built in 1936. The Ponte Coperto may only be used by busses, taxis, motorcycles and bikes, which on most days makes the bridge a nice and quiet spot. To perfect the tranquillity, we were eager to visit the chapel in the centre of the bridge, but it turned out to be closed. The chapel is dedicated to the fourteenth-century Saint John of Nepomuk, who is considered a patron saint of bridges.
The Ponte Coperto. In the background the Duomo of Pavia.
Roman era
I knew the river Ticino under its Latin name Ticinus. It was at this river that, in 218 BCE, the first armed confrontation took place between the Romans and Carthaginians under their brilliant commander Hannibal. After an arduous journey across the Alps the Carthaginian general had arrived in Northern Italy, which was then called Gaul and was inhabited by various Celtic tribes. Hannibal’s army was small, but of excellent quality and very experienced. The Carthaginian did, however, urgently need reinforcements from the Celtic tribes of the Po Valley. His army was much too small for a prolonged war in Italy. Hannibal therefore needed to get the Celtic tribes on his side and cause Rome’s Latin and Italian allies to defect, and if possible join his forces as well.
The Ponte Coperto, seen from the other side.
The Roman commander closest to Hannibal was the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio. Scipio decided to build a kind of pontoon bridge across the river Ticinus. The consul crossed the bridge with a small force, more of a large scouting party, composed of the Roman horse and a few hundred light infantry (velites). This was the opportunity Hannibal had been waiting for. Using only his cavalry, the Carthaginian commander attacked the Romans and after a sharp fight put them to flight. The consul himself was wounded and saw no other option but to withdraw to the Latin colony Placentia (Piacenza) and to demolish the bridge his men had built. Some 600 Romans left behind to guard the bridge – and perhaps to take it apart once the main force had crossed – were captured by the Carthaginians. The Battle of Ticinus in November 218 BCE was a small engagement, but nevertheless a crucial victory for Hannibal. After the battle, many Celts living in the area joined his ranks and – perhaps even more importantly – over 2,000 Celts serving in the Roman army defected.
History
The exact location of the Battle of Ticinus is unknown, and so is the place where the Romans built their temporary bridge and crossed the river. The theory that battle and bridge were near the future city of Pavia is appealing, but the evidence is lacking. Long after the war with Hannibal, the Romans founded the settlement of Ticinum, which would for ages remain the name of the city now known as Pavia. As early as the first century BCE the settlement was connected to the other shore of the river with a bridge. The Roman bridge stood the test of time remarkably well. It was not until the fourteenth century that a new bridge was built on the footprint of the old one. The new bridge, completed in 1354, was a work of Giovanni da Ferrara – also responsible for the Ponte Scaligero in Verona – and Jacopo da Cozzo. The chapel of Saint John of Nepomuk was added in the middle of the eighteenth century. In the church of San Teodoro in Pavia an interesting fresco from ca. 1525 shows us what the bridge must have looked like in the past.
The Ticino, with on the right Borgo Ticino.
Unfortunately the old Ponte Coperto was heavily damaged by an Allied bombardment in late September of 1944. After World War Two it was decided to blow up the remains of the old bridge and build a whole new bridge next to it. The new bridge, built between 1949 and 1951, was designed by Ferdinando Reggiori (1898-1976). Reggiori opted to construct the new Ponte Coperto some 30 metres further to the east. A few remnants of the old Roman and medieval bridge are still visible in the water, especially the central pillar. The main reason to cross the Ponte Coperto today is the beautiful view of Pavia and Borgo Ticino one has both from the bridge itself and from the two shores. I believe the images in this post say more than 835 words.