Discover Ponte Sant'Angelo

Ponte Sant'Angelo was built to reach a tomb. It was originally called the Ponte Elio, after the emperor Aelius Hadrianus, who had it put up in 136 AD to connect the city to the entrance of his own mausoleum — the building now known as Castel Sant'Angelo.

Its most remarkable moment is a traffic measure. In 1300, the first Holy Year, proclaimed by Boniface VIII, the sheer crowd of pilgrims forced a regulation of traffic for access to the bridge. Dante Alighieri testifies that on the bridge — the most direct route from the city to St Peter's — two opposite routes were created, marked out by a row of stalls.

In the next Holy Year it killed people. In 1450, an accident caused by the white mule carrying Pope Nicholas V broke the parapets, and dozens of people drowned.

And for forty-six years it was a place of display. From 1488 to 1534 the bridge and the square in front of it were used for the esposizione patibolare — showing the bodies of the executed to public view.

The angels came afterwards. The towers were demolished, two statues of St Peter and St Paul were added, and in 1668 the bridge gained ten statues of angels bearing the symbols of the Passion: Bernini designed the figures at the commission of Clement IX and gave their execution to his pupils.

It reached its present form in 1882, after restructuring work. It is free, open at every hour, and takes about twenty minutes to cross and come back.

A Roman bridge carrying a Baroque sculpture gallery, which is an unusual combination to stand on. The arches and piers are the structure Hadrian built in 136; everything above the roadway is later.

The parapets are the designed surface. They are lined with ten pedestals carrying the angels, evenly spaced, which turns the crossing into a colonnade of figures rather than a plain walkway.

The sculptural programme is a single idea. All ten angels carry symbols of the Passion, so the bridge reads as one sequence with ten parts rather than ten separate statues. Bernini designed the figures; his pupils executed them.

Two larger figures sit outside that scheme. St Peter and St Paul were added before the angels, and they are plainer, heavier and differently scaled — the join between two campaigns is visible in the sculpture itself.

What is missing is as telling as what is there. The bridge's towers were demolished, which is why the parapet runs unbroken and why the angels have an uninterrupted line to stand along.

And the last intervention was structural, not decorative. In 1882, after restructuring work, the bridge assumed its present appearance.

It was built as access to a tomb, and that explains its line. Hadrian had it built in 136 expressly to connect the city to the entrance of his mausoleum, so the bridge aims directly at the building now called Castel Sant'Angelo rather than at a street.

The Roman work is the part that has lasted. The arches and piers carried every later alteration, including the loss of the towers and two rebuildings of the sides.

The parapets were rebuilt because they failed. In 1450 an accident involving the white mule carrying Pope Nicholas V broke them, with fatal results — a structural failure under crowd load, on the busiest pilgrim route in the city.

The angels were a commission executed by a workshop. In 1668, at the commission of Clement IX, Bernini designed the figures and entrusted their execution to his pupils — which is why the ten vary in handling while sharing one conception.

The final shape is nineteenth-century. It was in 1882, following restructuring work, that the bridge assumed its present appearance.

Does it cost anything? No. It is a public pedestrian bridge, free, open at all hours, with nothing to book.

Who made the angels? Bernini designed the figures, at the commission of Clement IX, and entrusted their execution to his pupils. They were added in 1668.

How many statues are there? Ten angels bearing the symbols of the Passion, plus St Peter and St Paul, which were added earlier.

How old is the bridge? It was built in 136 by the emperor Hadrian, as the Pons Aelius, to connect the city to the entrance of his mausoleum — now Castel Sant'Angelo.

Why is it called Sant'Angelo? After the statue of the Archangel that crowns the castle it leads to.

What did Dante have to do with it? He testifies that in the Holy Year of 1300, when it was the most direct route to St Peter's, two opposite routes were created along it, marked out by a row of stalls, to manage the pilgrim crowd.

Did people really drown here? Yes. In the Holy Year of 1450 an accident caused by the white mule carrying Pope Nicholas V broke the parapets and dozens of people drowned.

What is the esposizione patibolare? From 1488 to 1534 the bridge and the square before it were used to display the bodies of executed people to public view.

When did it get its present form? In 1882, after restructuring work.

How long does it take? About twenty minutes, crossing and returning.