The Acqua bridge

A roman bridge in Val Ponci

The roman Acqua bridge in Val Ponci takes its name from the fact that it is close to a modern building that belongs to the finalese aqueduct. The bridge still has its single arch that is 5,9 m wide, the width of the base is 3,65 m and it’s 2,05m high for a section of 6 m² of water to flow.

This bridge was also part of the Augustan structures of the via Iulia Augusta, initiated by the emperor Augustus in 13 B.C. so to connect the area of the Po Valley to southern Gaul. The road reached the coast at Vada Sabatia (Vado Ligure). Of all the infrastructures of this roman road in Val Ponci there are five bridges datable between the Augustan age and 125 A.D.

This bridge was founded directly on the bedrock, a limestone and dolomite formation, and doesn’t present piers or works for containment. The arch had a small archivolt, probably in Finale Stone, that was completely removed to be used in rural walls. To make the wall vestment square blocks of dolomitic-limestone, quartzite and, subordinately, micascists were used in the petit appareil or “small apparatus” building technique.

The bridge was restored in 1953 and is still in good condition today.