Description
The Ponte San Lorenzo is a Roman bridge from the 1st century BC hidden beneath Via San Francesco, in the center of Padua, between Palazzo Bo and the Prefecture. The waterway it crossed has been filled in, but its arches are still intact below street level.
An inscription dates it to between 47 and 30 BC. About 53 meters long and more than 8 wide, it rests on three segmental arches, much flatter than the semicircle the Romans favored, and on very slender piers of 1.7 meters: a slenderness the ancient world never surpassed.
It was one of the four bridges by which Roman Padua crossed the Medoacus, whose bed was later taken by the Bacchiglione. The eastern arch remained in view until the mid-20th century, when the canal was filled in; the arches can be visited by going down into an underpass, at set times.
An inscription dates it to between 47 and 30 BC. About 53 meters long and more than 8 wide, it rests on three segmental arches, much flatter than the semicircle the Romans favored, and on very slender piers of 1.7 meters: a slenderness the ancient world never surpassed.
It was one of the four bridges by which Roman Padua crossed the Medoacus, whose bed was later taken by the Bacchiglione. The eastern arch remained in view until the mid-20th century, when the canal was filled in; the arches can be visited by going down into an underpass, at set times.