124 ROME SILENT BEAUTY THE MILVIAN BRIDGE IS THE GATEWAY TO CHRISTIANITY IN ROME. IT WAS HERE, ONOCTOBER 28 IN THE YEAR 312 AD, THAT EMPEROR CONSTANTINE FACED HIS RIVAL MAXENTIUS. LEGEND HAS IT THAT AN ANGEL APPEARED TO CONSTANTINE THE NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE, SHOWING HIM THE SYMBOL OF CHRIST’S CROSS THAT WOULD GUARANTEE HIS VICTORY IN THE NAME OF TRUE FAITH. AND INDEED, CONSTANTINEWON, ENTERING ROME, CROSSING THE FATEFUL BRIDGE, AND APPROACHING ALONG THE VIA FLAMINIA THAT OPENED UP BEFORE HIM, LEADING INTO TODAY’S PIAZZA DEL POPOLO. THE BRIDGE IS NO LONGER THE ONE THAT CONSTANTINE CROSSED. RESTORED SEVERAL TIMES OVER THE CENTURIES, TODAY WE SEE IT IN THE FORM IT WAS GIVEN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY BY GIUSEPPE VALADIER, THE SAME ARCHITECT WHODESIGNED THE DEFINITIVE PLAN FOR PIAZZA DEL POPOLO.
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