The Highway That Leads
From The Bridge To The City, Is Part Of The Via Flaminia, Which
Extended As Far As Rimini; And Is Well Paved, Like A Modern
Street.
Nothing of the antient bridge remains but the piles; nor
is there any thing in the structure of this, or of the other five
Roman bridges over the Tyber, that deserves attention.
I have not
seen any bridge in France or Italy, comparable to that of
Westminster either in beauty, magnificence, or solidity; and when
the bridge at Black-Friars is finished, it will be such a
monument of architecture as all the world cannot parallel. As for
the Tyber, it is, in comparison with the Thames, no more than an
inconsiderable stream, foul, deep, and rapid. It is navigable by
small boats, barks, and lighters; and, for the conveniency of
loading and unloading them, there is a handsome quay by the new
custom-house, at the Porto di Ripetta, provided with stairs of
each side, and adorned with an elegant fountain, that yields
abundance of excellent water.
We are told that the bed of this river has been considerably
raised by the rubbish of old Rome, and this is the reason usually
given for its being so apt to overflow its banks. A citizen of
Rome told me, that a friend of his lately digging to lay the
foundation of a new house in the lower part of the city, near the
bank of the river, discovered the pavement of an antient street,
at the depth of thirty-nine feet from the present surface of the
earth.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 399 of 535
Words from 106650 to 106917
of 143308
