Memorie sommerse. Roman Bronzes from the Ponte di Valentiniano

The inscription on this bridge was written for boats. Carved in travertine on the outside of the Pons Valentiniani, it was meant to be read by boatmen on the Tiber, and a video by Sapienza epigraphist Silvia Orlandi walks you through it and the marble dedication to the brothers Valentinian and Valens.

Built in the fourth century, the bridge fell to a Tiber flood in 729. Three of its bronzes surfaced from the riverbank in 1878 and spent over a century in the museum's stores: a diademed male head, a gilded statue of a man in a toga, and a Victory's right wing. Its replacement, Ponte Sisto, is the footbridge you cross for an aperitivo in Trastevere; the original came with gilded bronzes and signage for river traffic.

It's a small display, three fragments and a film, included in the €15 Palazzo Massimo ticket and extended to 31 December 2026. The travertine inscription is in Michelangelo's Cloister at the Baths of Diocletian, also covered by the ticket.