Ponte sospeso di San Marcello Piteglio, Pedestrian suspension bridge in San Marcello Piteglio, Italy
The Ponte sospeso di San Marcello Piteglio is a pedestrian suspension bridge over the Lima River between Mammiano Basso and Popiglio. It is 227 metres long, 80 centimetres wide and up to 36 metres above the riverbed, supported by four steel cables with a metal-grid railing on each side. The light grey steel structure has no intermediate supports.
Count Vincenzo Douglas Scotti, director of the Mammiano Basso rolling mill of the Italian Metallurgical Company, proposed the bridge, built from 1920 and inaugurated in June 1923. About thirty workers anchored four steel cables, creating a crossing without intermediate supports. It spared workers from Popiglio a roughly 6 km walk to the factories on the opposite bank.
Locals often call the structure the Tibetan bridge because of its resemblance to traditional suspension crossings in the Himalayas. Today, hikers and cyclists regularly cross the river on this route, which links two small settlements and passes through chestnut forests.
The bridge is freely accessible all year round and offers a direct connection between Mammiano Basso and Popiglio. Visitors should take extra care during wind or rain, as the structure sways slightly and the surface can become slippery.
The bridge entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1990 as the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world, but the Kokonoe Yume Bridge in Japan took the title in 2006. Its four steel cables are kept under tension and carry a deck only 80 centimetres wide.
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