The Roman bridge of Solestà spans the narrow, deep banks of the Tronto with a single arch in Ascoli Piceno, and still links the town centre with the Porta Cappuccina district. It dates from the Augustan age and its builder is unknown; it was already repaired in Roman times, as shown by fragments of Doric friezes inserted in place of fallen stones. It is considered one of the most representative bridges of Roman engineering, because it has kept all its original construction features.
What to see
The bridge is built in travertine opus quadratum, with blocks of varying length laid in regular courses. A base five metres above the water supports piers set against the rock spurs, with Doric capitals from which the round arch springs, marked by single-piece voussoirs and a projecting cornice. Its dimensions were exceptional for the time: the roadway is 62 metres long from bank to bank, the arch spans over 22 metres, the height above the water is 25 metres and the width six and a half metres. Only a few ancient bridges were larger, such as Trajan's bridge over the Danube, the Alcántara bridge over the Tagus and the bridge of Augustus at Narni.
In the twentieth century the inside was emptied and a reinforced concrete bridge, invisible from outside, was inserted to carry the Roman structure and the traffic. Inside the piers inspection spaces and a tunnel from bank to bank were created, from which you can see the blocks held together without mortar and the successive road surfaces laid over the centuries; the Roman one, in travertine, still shows the ruts of cart wheels.
Visiting
The bridge can be crossed freely. The interior can be visited through an inspection corridor, entered from the building next to the outer end: arrangements and times should be checked beforehand.
Our editors' tip
At the end of the bridge, on the wall of a house facing the small square in front of the fountain of Sant'Emidio, is an eighteenth-century votive shrine with two caryatids and a fresco of the Holy Family.
