1960 – View through the iron railing of the Ponte Sistu in Rome, Italy, along the Tevere River with the dome of the St. Peter’s Basilica in the back. Edited scan © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
Here is yet another stunning image from the 100+ slides covering a trip to Rome in 1960, shot by a young, passionate amateur of just 19 years.
This slide did not carry a title or caption, so I did a bit of research and found the location Ponte Sistu to be a good match for the angle. However, the railing looks more tidy and sober today than on the photo from 1960. Ho-hm. What’s going on here? A bit more digging resulted in the information that the bridge looked very different in 1960.
You see, the bridge had cast-iron walkways to accommodate the increased traffic in the growing city of Rome. Two metal pedestrian walkways were added to the sides of the bridge in 1877 according to plans by the engineer Angelo Vescovali. These rested on marble consoles and gave the bridge an industrial, rather disharmonious appearance.
It was called an “architectural monstrosity” often, as it did not conform to the original Renaissance design and deteriorated over time because the materials used (soft iron and cast iron) which were difficult to maintain. So, in 1999 the iron additions were removed and replaced by the brick-construction we see today. (Hoorah!)
The young photographer must have been quite impressed by the look of the metal railings and found an awesome angle for his photo, capturing both the beauty of St. Peter (overlooking the city in the back) and the river – and the ugliness of the iron railing. At least graffitis were not yet popular in 1960. 😉
Personally, this is not only a significant historical image that shows how the bridge looked back in the 1960s, but it was – thanks to the well composed frame – truly an art shot
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | c. 1960 |
| Location | Rome, Italy |
| Photographer | unknown |
| Image Source | framed 35 mm color slide |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 6562 x 4409 Pixels |
| Copyright | Scan & Edit © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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