A legend, linked to the myth of its indestructibility, surrounds the Devil's Bridge or Tiberius Bridge in mystery. Built in Istrian stone like the Arch, dedicated instead to Augustus, it was the starting point of two consular routes:
the Via Emilia that reached Piacenza,
the Via Popilia-Annia which reached Aquileia.
Built in Doric style on five arches, its path - slightly curved (called humpback) - originally must have been longer than the current 74 metres. Paved with traditional trachyte paving stones, it had a width of 4.80 meters and was flanked by raised sidewalks of approx. 30 cm and approximately 60 cm wide, still passable today.
The only city bridge crossing the Marecchia river and the only connection between the city and Borgo San Giuliano, the Tiberio has considerable historical importance. In fact, even today, it seems not to suffer the effects of time.
After overcoming wars and earthquakes, this bridge, which not even the Germans managed to demolish during the Second World War, maintains its appearance and solidity. And, despite its two thousand years, for years it has supported the weight of the intense city traffic every day and has now become a pedestrian area.
Together with the Arch of Augustus, the bridge constitutes one of the fundamental symbols of imperial power in Rimini, with which the inhabitants identified themselves, recognizing the value of their prince and embracing his politics.
Over the centuries these two road infrastructures have transformed into true symbols of Rimini's identity, so much so that they have appeared in public seals and coats of arms since the Middle Ages. The Renaissance then transformed them into true case studies for architects and engineers, but also undisputed protagonists of the works of passing artists and painters.
The legend of the Devil's Bridge
“Pont de 'e Dievul” or “Devil's Bridge”, this is how the people of Rimini call the Tiberius Bridge. Legend has it that this bridge was created by the devil. This is because every time a piece was built, the next day it fell, so Tiberius invoked the devil and, begging him to come to his aid, made a pact: the devil would build the bridge but in exchange he would take the soul of the first. that crossed it.
The emperor accepted and the devil immediately went to work. Overnight the bridge was finished, solid, imposing and beautiful.
As per tradition, it had to be inaugurated with a parade and so Tiberius, to free himself from the pact with the devil who would take the soul of the first person to pass through, instead of a man, had a dog pass before everyone else as a propitiatory sign. The devil who was waiting for a human soul on the other bank felt betrayed and full of anger decided to take immediate revenge by destroying the Tiberius Bridge. He kicked the stone several times, but it did not get scratched, he himself had made it indestructible! So he left. As evidence of this episode, it seems that on the balustrade on the mountain side there are two notches resembling the marks of horns.
More likely, however, they could have been recesses for fixing pulleys used to hoist material from boats that reached under the bridge.
The Devil's Stone
There is another version of the legend of the Tiberius Bridge.
Here's what he passes down. Before embarking on the exceptional feat of completing it, Emperor Tiberius turned to the Father of the Gods to ask for the suitable material to complete the work. His God replied that he would find the most suitable boulders at Monte di Perticara. The emperor asked how he could bring them to Rimini and the God replied that only the Devil could transport them.
The emperor agreed to ask the Devil for help and so the Father of the Gods contacted him telling him that if he helped the people of Rimini transport the stones in exchange he would give him the soul of the first person who crossed the bridge. The Devil accepted and immediately got to work. The work was completed in a short time.
Now it was up to the God to keep his word, but he made a dog cross the bridge first. The devil, disappointed and angry, refused to carry the last stone. Thus a boulder remained on Monte della Perticara, destined for the Tiberius Bridge in Rimini and thus what they call the 'Devil's Stone' was born.