This blog post by Dechkunn Chhay is dedicated to the Ponte Coperto in Pavia, which Digital Palaeography students visited last year as part of the annual Spring School abroad.
The city of Pavia had been an important city throughout the Middle Ages. It was founded in the Roman period. Later on, Pavia became the capital of the Lombard Kingdoms until it was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 (Shahan & Macpherson, 1908). Throughout the Middle Ages, Pavia was an important city under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire. The city had seen the coronations of various Holy Roman Emperors, including Henry II (Benigni, 1911) and Frederick Babarrosa (Elliot, 2014), who would crown themselves as Kings of Italy there. Pavia had always been a strategic location for transportation and commerce. The city is situated at the intersection of the two fundamental trade routes of the Po Valley. Traders would transverse from the region along the Adriatic Sea, such as Venice, to the eastern regions of Italy, such as Milan and Genoa (Bertoni, 2013). Pavia was also a city that is situated along important pilgrim routes such as the “Via Francigena,” which connects the countries outside the Alps to Rome, as well as other holy sites such as Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela (UNESCO). Ponte Coperto is one of the iconic landmarks that adorn the city of Pavia.
Ponte Coperto, which literally means “Covered Bridge” in English, is one of the notable landmarks of Pavia. The bridge is 216 meters in length and crosses the Ticino River. There was a Roman bridge that was built within the vicinity of modern-day Ponte Coperto. Under Roman rule, Pavia was transformed from a settlement of the Papiria tribe into a city named “Ticinum” in 220 B.C.E. The bridge was possibly rebuilt during the reign of Augustus (Stenico, 1953). The blocks of granite from the Baveno quarries that were used as a material to build the Roman bridge still exist as one pillar under the remains of the medieval bridge. The remains of these pylons can still be seen today when the Ticino River is at low tide. Ponte Coperto has become one of the most iconic landmarks of Pavia, as the monument is seen in various artworks, including the frescoes in Saint Theodore’s Church, which were commissioned by Bernardino Lanzani in 1524 (Pavia e dintorni., n.d.-b).
The bridge was restored in 860 C.E. on the order of Louis the German. Vessels from the Abbey of Bobbio were used in the restoration (Settia, 2021). Giovanni da Ferrara and Jacopo da Cozzo led the operation, which commenced in 1351 and was completed in 1354 (Pavia e dintorni., n.d.-a). In the Middle Ages, Ponte Coperto had ten irregular arches as well as two towers at both ends of the bridge, which were constructed for defense purposes (Settia, 2021). Other parts were later added to the bridge, including a portal of entry on Borgo Ticino’s side, which was built in 1599; a chapel in the centre of the bridge in honor of Saint John of Nepomuk in the 18th century; and an entrance portal, built by Carlo Armati in 1822 (Pavia e dintorni., n.d.-a). Saint John of Nepomuk was a Bohemian patron saint whose statue was erected in the chapel. The statue fell into the river after the Allies bombed Pavia. It was recovered by fishermen and is now kept in the chapel of the new bridge (Pavia e dintorni., n.d.-c.).
Ponte Coperto also has an oral legend that has been passed down for generations that says the bridge was built by the devil. On a foggy Christmas Eve in the year 999, a few pilgrims from Borgo Ticino wanted to cross the river to attend the midnight mass in town. The devil, disguised as a man, offered the pilgrims a ferry to cross the river. The devil pointed to a shadow of a bridge in the fog and told the pilgrims that he could turn the fog into a stone bridge in exchange for the first person who crossed it. The Archangel Michael, who was among the pilgrims, recognized the trick of the devil, and he accepted the deal. However, once the bridge was built, a goat crossed it first without the devil’s knowledge (Dooid Magazine, 2017).
Ponte Coperto was destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II in September 1944, which caused one arch of the bridge to collapse (Pavia e dintorni., n.d.-a). In the aftermath of the war, there were debates among governmental officials to decide whether the bridge should be demolished (Pavia e dintorni., n.d.-a). In 1948, the Ministry of Public Works decided to demolish it for fear that the damaged bridge would collapse and cause floods along the Ticino River, and in order to make way for the construction of the new bridge (Pavia e dintorni., n.d.-a). The reconstruction of the modern bridge was inaugurated in 1951 and was built 30 meters away from the old bridge (Pavia e dintorni., n.d.-a). The new Ponte Coperto consisted of only five arches, and the path is shorter as it is built perpendicular to the river. In addition, near the chapel of the modern bridge, a plaque dedicated to Albert Einstein was erected. It displays his remarks about the bridge during his time in Pavia, which stated:
An die schöne Brücke in Pavia habe ich oft gedacht
(“I often thought of the beautiful bridge in Pavia.”)
Albert Einstein had spent time in Pavia during his university break back in 1896 (Spizzi, n.d.).
Bibliography
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