Description
The Ponte di Mezzo stands at the ideal center of Pisa and joins the two halves of the city: Piazza Garibaldi, in Tramontana, and Piazza XX Settembre, in Mezzogiorno, where the Palazzo Pretorio, the Town Hall and the Logge di Banchi are found. It is a single arch of 72 meters, 89 long in all.
Here, on the last Saturday of June, the Gioco del Ponte takes place: Mezzogiorno and Tramontana fight over the bridge by pushing a cart. On the Mezzogiorno bank open the Logge di Banchi. In the middle of the roadway is a reproduction of the Pisan cross, and at the entrances four spheres recall the earlier bridge.
The present bridge is reinforced concrete, with its sides faced in white Verona stone. It has two twins on the Tiber, in Rome, the Ponte Testaccio and the Ponte Duca d'Aosta.
Until the 12th century Pisa had only one bridge, a wooden one, where Santa Cristina stands today.
The story of the Ponte di Mezzo begins in 1035, the year of the victory of Lipari, when a wooden bridge was rebuilt in stone right here, and in 1388 it was restored by order of Pietro Gambacorta. In 1635 a flood of the Arno brought it down, and the reconstruction lasted about thirty years, with three different architects.
The first resigned. The second, Alessandro Bortolotti, tried a single arch, bold for the time: it lasted eight days, and he ended up arrested. The third, Francesco Nave, managed it in 1660 with three arches, demolishing the last eight shops on one bank.
On July 22, 1944 German mines blew it up. For the Pisans rebuilding it was a symbol, and a referendum was called: three arches as before, or just one?
The three-span project "Post Fata Resurgo" by Ettore Fagiuoli was the commission's favorite.
But the single arch won, in the project "Conte Ugolino". The bridge was built between 1947 and 1950 by the company Ferrobeton, a well-known name in Italian construction, on calculations by the engineer Giulio Krall; the winning project was signed by architects and engineers together with the sculptor Mario Bertini. Of the old bridge, the four spheres and the marble side facing remain.
Don't miss
• The Gioco del Ponte.
• The Logge di Banchi.
• The Pisan cross.
Did you know?
• It is a little farther downstream than the old one: it was meant to serve a new road parallel to Corso Italia, never built.
• In the early decades of the 20th century tram tracks ran across the bridge too.
Here, on the last Saturday of June, the Gioco del Ponte takes place: Mezzogiorno and Tramontana fight over the bridge by pushing a cart. On the Mezzogiorno bank open the Logge di Banchi. In the middle of the roadway is a reproduction of the Pisan cross, and at the entrances four spheres recall the earlier bridge.
The present bridge is reinforced concrete, with its sides faced in white Verona stone. It has two twins on the Tiber, in Rome, the Ponte Testaccio and the Ponte Duca d'Aosta.
Until the 12th century Pisa had only one bridge, a wooden one, where Santa Cristina stands today.
The story of the Ponte di Mezzo begins in 1035, the year of the victory of Lipari, when a wooden bridge was rebuilt in stone right here, and in 1388 it was restored by order of Pietro Gambacorta. In 1635 a flood of the Arno brought it down, and the reconstruction lasted about thirty years, with three different architects.
The first resigned. The second, Alessandro Bortolotti, tried a single arch, bold for the time: it lasted eight days, and he ended up arrested. The third, Francesco Nave, managed it in 1660 with three arches, demolishing the last eight shops on one bank.
On July 22, 1944 German mines blew it up. For the Pisans rebuilding it was a symbol, and a referendum was called: three arches as before, or just one?
The three-span project "Post Fata Resurgo" by Ettore Fagiuoli was the commission's favorite.
But the single arch won, in the project "Conte Ugolino". The bridge was built between 1947 and 1950 by the company Ferrobeton, a well-known name in Italian construction, on calculations by the engineer Giulio Krall; the winning project was signed by architects and engineers together with the sculptor Mario Bertini. Of the old bridge, the four spheres and the marble side facing remain.
Don't miss
• The Gioco del Ponte.
• The Logge di Banchi.
• The Pisan cross.
Did you know?
• It is a little farther downstream than the old one: it was meant to serve a new road parallel to Corso Italia, never built.
• In the early decades of the 20th century tram tracks ran across the bridge too.