Ponte della Pia

Ponte della Pia
	The Ponte della Pia seen from the east
Convicted	Rosia
place	Rosia ( Italy )
construction	Arch bridge
	location

43.239258333333 11.193311111111Coordinates: 43 ° 14 ′ 21 ″ N , 11 ° 11 ′ 36 ″ E

The Ponte della Pia bridge is a stone arch bridge near the village of Rosia .

Location and description

The bridge is located in the Italian municipality of Sovicille , province of Siena , region of Tuscany , about 2 km west of the district Rosia on the provincial road SS 73 to Chiusdino and on the stretch of the ancient Via Massetana, which connects the Mersetal with the Maremma . It spans the Rosia River .

The single-arch bridge, which was probably built in Roman times or in the late Middle Ages, was extensively renovated at the beginning of the 13th century. To enable tanks to drive over the bridge, the entire bridge structure was removed during the Second World War.

In 1966 and 1970 the bridge was used in the shooting of the Brancaleone films The Incredible Adventures of the Honorable Knight Branca Leone and Brancaleone on a Crusade to the Holy Land .

The legend of the Pia de 'Tolomei

The name of the bridge is Pia de 'Tolomei . The legend tells that the beautiful Countess Pia de 'Tolomei, the unhappy wife of Nello d'Inghiramo de' Pannochieschi, crossed this bridge on her way into exile, the Castel di Pietra (today in the municipality of Gavorrano ). Dante Alighieri also reports on the fate of the Countess in the fifth cant of Purgatorio (Purgatory, lines 130-136) of his work Divine Comedy .

When the third spirit took the floor

He said: "When you come back to the world,

Only rested from the long journey

So let your being here also be pious to Pia.

Siena gave birth, Maremma annihilated me.

And he, from whom I once got the ring,

The loyalty pledge, he knows how I hereditary.

( Streckfuß translation, original [...] "Deh, quando tu sarai tornato al mondo e riposato de la lunga via", seguitò 'l terzo spirito al secondo, "ricorditi di me, che son la Pia; Siena mi fé, disfecemi Maremma: salsi colui che 'nnanellata pria disposando m'avea con la sua gemma. )