Italy - Nero’s Bridge emerges from Tiber River as Rome faces water crisis

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ROME (AP) — The remains of an ancient bridge have emerged in Rome’s Tiber River, near St. Peter’s Basilica, as weeks with virtually no rain caused water levels to plunge.

The bridge — known as Nero’s Bridge, named for the former Roman emperor — once connected Rome’s city center with the Tiber’s right bank.

“Nero is the most famous person linked to this area, because precisely in Nero’s circus, where the Vatican is now located, the Apostle Peter was martyred,” said Antonella Bonini, an archaeologist at Rome’s cultural heritage superintendency.

“However, scholars consider the bridge to be older (than Nero’s era) — built by Caligula, Nero’s uncle,” she said, adding that it existed as early as 39 AD.

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https://apnews.com/article/italy-heat-neros-bridge-tiber-river-d42fbed89b54530bd5c381aa53a1884b






This bird’s eye view, taken from the side of the Vatican shows you at the bottom of the picture, the situation of the palace of Agrippina, and the gardens of Drusus. In the centre, the Nero bridge and on the left the Ælius bridge and the Mausoleum of Hadrian.


Walking up the Via Septimiana towards the valley of the Vatican, we see one of the great Palaces of Younger Agrippina Nero’s mother; A row of gardens, probably the gardens of Drusus, are along the road just before coming to the Palace. The Via Septimania is therefore going to cross at the top of the picture the Via Cornelia which links the valley of the Vatican to the Nero bridge, which you se on the right side of the picture.