The Sisto Bridge has 4 arches and in the centre a large round hole which the Romans call the ‘Occhialone’ acting as a water gauge. When the water passes through it, this means that there is danger that the river will overflow.
During the course of its history, the bridge had different names, such as Antonino, Aurelio, Gianicolense, Valentiniano, Rotto, in Onda, each of which had particular meanings.
The origins of the bridge have been rather debatable over the years: certain texts report that the Sisto Bridge was the wooden bridge built by Vipsanio Agrippa restored and remade in 12 BC (the year of his death) to open the way to Trastevere, where some years later Augustus would have brought the water of the Alsietino aqueduct to supply the Nauchia near the present S. Cosimato. Another supposition is instead that it was Antonino Pio who built an entirely new bridge in the same place in 147 AD.
The controversies about the origins of the bridge were mainly brought up in 1887 when, during some of his works on the Tiber banks, the archeologist Borsari uncovered some memorial stones, which may have dated back to 40 BC, where reference was made to a certain Agrippa bridge and the conclusions drawn was that the bridge involved would have been situated exactly in the place where the Sisto Bridge was built.
Shortly afterwards, certain remains were discovered at about 160 meters above the Sisto Bridge having bridge type pillars and believed to be the pillars of the antique Agrippa Bridge although they were built obliquely with respect to the flow of the river.
Supposing that the Agrippa Bridge broke down, it could not be explained why Antonino Pio did not at least use the same pillars to build the new bridge and had built it only 160 meters away. Further, in antique times, only eight pillars were mentioned never nine.
The conclusion finally drawn was that the remains found above the Sisto Bridge were only those left over from defensive constructions of the late Imperial era.
Procopio, sent to follow Belisario, speaking of the Gothic Wars around 537 AD referred to a defensive system with chains that barred the way to enemies moving along the Tiber.
The reason why the name Agrippa was no longer mentioned was probably because the emperor Antonino Pio made so many changes of different kinds to the bridge that he was able to put his name to it.
Mentions of the changes made to the old bridge by the Emperor were dated 1939 when a fragment of a January calendar dated as the year 147 AD was found, where a repair made by the emperor Antonino to the Agrippa Bridge, was mentioned.
In this way, there was no longer any doubt about who built the bridge, which although also known by the name of Aurelia seemed to indicate the Emperor Caracalla whereas it referred to the name of Antonino Pio before he became an emperor.
The other name of Gianicolense instead derives from the fact that the bridge led to a part of the city so densely populated because the air was so healthy. Moreover, other antique bridges as well were built towards the Gianicolense for the same reason.
In 366 – 67, the emperor Valentiniano made further great repairs to the bridge and also built a triumphal arch at the entrance decorated with bronze statues, the remains of which were found in 1878 and 1892. These are now in the National Museum in Rome.
Later, the bridge was probably greatly damaged when the river overflowed violently during 589 – 590 and further damage was caused in 792 floods. This is the reason why it took the name of Fractus or Ruptus.
As the great 1475 Jubilee came closer, to aid the flow of pilgrims from the left bank of the Tiber, where the City was most populous, towards the Vatican, Pope Sisto IV (Francesco della Rovere) laid the first stone on the 29th of April 1473, to rebuild the old unused Agrippa bridge (the scene is also portrayed in a fresco in the Ospedale di Santo Spirito).
During the previous Jubilee in 1450, deaths occurred because of overcrowding on the Saint’Angelo Bridge. There is also a story told that when Sisto IV was still a Cardinal and lived at the Convent of S. Salvatore in Onda, as it was inconvenient for him to reach the Saint’Angel Bridge to go to the Vatican. He promised himself that should he become Pope, he would reconstruct the dilapidated bridge just in front of his house.
The work of reconstructing the bridge further greatly contributed towards enhancing the value of the Trastevere area. It was most probable that this work was given to the architect Baccio Pontelli as even Vassari recognized his merit. The works were inaugurated for the 1475 Jubilee but were only fully terminated in 1479.
The width of the bridge was reduced to 6.4 meters compared to the 9 meters of the antique Agrippa Bridge.
The funds for carrying out the works were obtained from a legacy given to the Domenicani di S.Maria Sopra Minerva by Cardinal Giovanni di Torrecremata, the uncle of Sisto IV. It was also said that part of the money was obtained from the taxes levied on Roman courtesans.
At the ends of the bridge, towards the city, inscriptions may be seen: ‘ 1475 You who pass here thanks to Sisto IV, pray God that the greatest and best Pope will live long and enjoy the best of health. Go in peace whoever you are after having recited this prayer’ And further ‘ the greatest Pope Sisto IV has relaid the foundations of this bridge to be used by the Roman citizens and the multitude of pilgrims who will take part in the Jubilee and which is rightly called ‘Rotto’ (broken) at his own expense and attention and wished it to be renamed after him – the Sisto Bridge.
The works carried out by Sisto IV was neither firm nor stable, so that even as of 1564 there were many requests by the pope (Pio IV) at the Comune Capitolino to restore the Sisto Bridge which, not having fulfilled expectations, was already going to ruin. Thus a period then started of passing the problem between the Comune and the Camera Apostolica and back, as the dispute regarding the responsibility of the bridges and the gates to the city had always been a burning question.
The Vatican hoped to exercise control and interference, however tried to involve the Roman citizens and therefore the Comune in paying for the works.
After some time, the Pope hinted at a financial contribution to consolidate the structure and at the end of this dispute, the opera was entrusted to Vignola and the actual person in charge was Matteo di Castello.
One of the pillars starting to fall down was reinforced. The works of restoration started on the 23rd of January and terminated in August 1567.
Other repairs were still carried out in 1598 by Clemente VIII and involved the paving and the parapets of the bridge, damaged by the Tiber floods in the same year.
After violent overflowing in 1870, there was a proposition to break the Sisto Bridge down, in fact, in 1875, the Consiglio Superiore dei Lavori Pubblici suggested demolishing it and building it again with wider arches. In 1877, instead, considering that the traffic towards Trastevere was growing more and more and that in the piece between the Castello Bridge and the Tiberina there were only the Florentine and Sisto Bridges, it was decided to enlarge the passage to 11 meters by adding two hanging pathways made of cast iron supported on eight gigantic corbels fixed to the outside of the bridge and by parapets cut out in diamond shapes.
The extensions were completed in 1877.
This addition to the historic monument was considered over the years by many as an architectonic defacement and became even more serious in the sixties following the idea of using the Sisto Bridge as a kind of market for selling books and other antique objects.
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