Ponte Sisto is a footbridge in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

's historic centre, spanning the river Tiber

Tiber

The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at...

. It connects Via del Pettinari in the Rione

Rioni of Rome

A rione is an Italian term used since the Middle Ages to name the districts of Rome, according to the administrative divisions of that time. The word originates from the Latin word regio A rione (pl. rioni) is an Italian term used since the Middle Ages to name the districts of Rome, according to...

 of Regola to Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere

Trastevere

Trastevere is rione XIII of Rome, on the west bank of the Tiber, south of Vatican City. Its name comes from the Latin trans Tiberim, meaning literally "beyond the Tiber". The correct pronunciation is "tras-TEH-ve-ray", with the accent on the second syllable. Its logo is a golden head of a lion on a...

. The current bridge was built by Pope Sixtus IV between 1473 and 1479 as a replacement of a prior Roman bridge

Roman bridge

Roman bridges, built by ancient Romans, were the first large and lasting bridges built. Roman bridges were built with stone and had the arch as its basic structure....

 named Pons Aurelius.

Roman Pons Aurelius

The predecessor bridge to Ponte Sisto, the Pons Aurelius was first mentioned by authors in the 4th and 5th centuries and was later known in the Middle Ages as "Pons Antoninus", "Pons Antonini in Arenula", and "Pons Ianicularis id est pons ruptus vulgariter nominatus et Tremelus et Antoninus".

The Pons Antoninus was partially destroyed in 772 and rebuilt in its current form by Pope Sixtus IV, after whom it is still named to this day.

Renaissance Ponte Sisto

The bridge is architecturally characteristic because of its central circular 'Occulus' or eye. It connects the popular night-life areas near Campo de' Fiori

Campo de' Fiori

Campo de' Fiori is a rectangular square near Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy, on the border of rione Parione and rione Regola. Campo de' Fiori, translated literally from Italian, means "field of flowers"...

 and Trastevere

Trastevere

Trastevere is rione XIII of Rome, on the west bank of the Tiber, south of Vatican City. Its name comes from the Latin trans Tiberim, meaning literally "beyond the Tiber". The correct pronunciation is "tras-TEH-ve-ray", with the accent on the second syllable. Its logo is a golden head of a lion on a...

 and has become part of popular culture and featured in films, music videos, and adverts.

The Ponte Sisto connects the lively and Popular Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere, where many young Romans gather for an apperitivo on a Friday night, with the via Pettinary and via Giulia in Campo Marte.
On the corner of via Pettinari and via Giulia once stood a fountain, a work of the Acqua Paola Aqueduct, the water of which was brought over the bridge from the Transtiberim to the Campo Marte via Ponte Sisto.

After the Unification of Italy in 1870, the buildings surrounding this fountain were destroyed, and the fountain itself relocated to Piazza Trilussa on the other side of the bridge, where it delivers water to this day.
The bridge still carries eight large tubes across the river, carrying the water of the Acqua Paola.