Ponte romano di Pietralunga, bridge in Italy

The Ponte romano di Pietralunga is a ruined Roman bridge in the Pietralunga district of Paternò, Sicily. Built entirely of lava stone, it stands only a few metres high but is 4.15 metres wide and about 23 metres long. Of its two original arches, only one remains visible, and the surviving sections now serve as irrigation channels for the surrounding fields.

The bridge was likely built around 164 BC, roughly a century after Romans gained control of Sicily. It served as part of a road network connecting Catania with inland towns like Centuripe and Enna, facilitating both trade and military movement across the region.

Locals call the ruins 'Coscia del Ponte', meaning 'the bridge's thigh', after the low, stubby shape of the remaining masonry. The surviving sections now serve as irrigation channels for the surrounding farmland, so the Roman structure still carries water to the fields.

The ruins lie in the Pietralunga district, in the western part of Paternò's territory, outside the built-up area and close to the Simeto. The river has shifted course since Roman times, so the banks today are not where the bridge originally crossed. The remains are reached by car or on foot from Paternò.

Excavations in 1997 by the Soprintendenza ai beni culturali e ambientali di Catania, in the hills beside the bridge, brought to light traces of a settlement and finds from the Bronze Age. The site was therefore occupied long before the Roman road and its mills at Paternò.