The Pons Aemilius or Ponte Emilio was probably the first stone bridge built in Rome and the first of the Republican age. It crossed the river Tiber a little further north from the ancient Ponte Sublicio. Construction, commissioned by M. Aemilius Lepidus, began around 241 B.C.E. and was only completed several decades later with the building of the stone arches. Constantly exposed to damage caused by the river Tiber, the first of several restructuring interventions took place under Emperor Augustus in 12 B.C.E. With the building of the adjacent Palatine Bridge in 1887, two of the three surviving arches (originally six) were demolished for technical reasons. Ever since, the lone stone arch in the centre of the river, right in front of isola Tiberina, has been nicknamed ponte rotto.
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