Ponte di Tiberio, Rimini

Five round Roman arches of pale Istrian stone, mirrored in the still water of the old Marecchia channel at the edge of Rimini's historic center. Augustus began the bridge in AD 14 and Tiberius finished it in AD 21, and an inscription credits both emperors. The piers are set at an angle to match the current, a detail that has helped them shrug off floods for two thousand years. When German troops retreated through Rimini in 1944, they destroyed the other bridges over the river, but this one survived, and accounts differ on why. It still links the old town with the Borgo San Giuliano quarter, and the park beside the water gives the best view of the full run of arches.