View of the Ponte Rotto in Rome
  • Tommaso Bigatti
  • Italy, early nineteenth century
  • View of the Ponte Rotto in Rome
  • Gouache, heightened with gum arabic, on swanskin
  • 210 × 385 mm

This glimpse into the centre of Rome shows two of the city’s landmarks simultaneously. To the left, the beholder catches sight of the vestiges of the oldest brick bridge over the Tiber, the Pons Aemilius from 174 BCE. A devastating flood in 1598 destroyed the majority of the piers and arches, however; since then, the ruins have been known as the Ponte Rotto. Here, Bigatti shows the view from the riverbank on the other side of the Vatican; we can still recognize the three intact arches,which in the early 19th century reached all the way to the shore. In1885, however, the bridge lost this connection to the land, and stands today with only a single arch near the middle of the river.

Farther right, somewhat in the background, lies the so-called Isola Tiberina – one of the small islands in the middle of the river cultivated since antiquity – above two bridges linked to each riverbank. We can easily recognize the tower of the Basilica San Bartolomeo all’Isola, still distinctive today, next to a hospital. A handwritten note in English on the sheet’s old montage accordingly entitles the whole scene: Island of San Bartolomeo. Rome.