Pons Cestius
Roman stone bridge in Rome, Italy
The Pons Cestius (Latin for the "Cestian Bridge"; Italian: Ponte Cestio) is an ancient Roman bridge connecting the right bank of the Tiber with the west bank of Tiber Island in Rome, Italy. In Late Antiquity, the bridge was replaced and renamed the Pons Gratiani ("Bridge of Gratian"). It is also known as Ponte San Bartolomeo (Italian for "Bridge of St Bartholomew"). No more than one third of the present stone bridge is of ancient material, as it was entirely rebuilt and extended in the 19th century after numerous earlier restorations.
Ancient bridges
1st-century BC bridge
The original bridge was built around the 1st century BC (some time between 62 and 27 BC), after the Pons Fabricius, which connects the other side of island to the river's left bank. The identity of the Cestius referred to in the bridge's name is unknown. He may have been responsible for building the bridge or for later restoring an existing one, and may have been a member of the gens Cestia during the later Roman Republic.
The Pons Cestius was the first bridge that reached the right bank of the Tiber from Tiber Island. Whereas the island was long connected with the left bank of the Tiber and the heart of ancient Rome, even before the Pons Fabricius was built, the right bank (Transtiber) remained unconnected until the Pons Cestius was constructed. Several members of the Cestii from the 1st century BC are known, but it is unknown which of them was responsible.
The public source identifies “Pons Cestius” as roman stone bridge in Rome, Italy. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Pons, Cestius and Roman.
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Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q734903. Authority coordinates are 41.890, 12.477. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pons Cestius” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.