The Bridge

by Molly Rupert
The Italians recycle - a lot. This is not a new concept to them like it is to us in the Western world. They reuse things over and over and over again. Most of the buildings are hundreds of years old. Yes, they have Internet (when it works), lights and modern bathrooms, but the structure of the buildings remains the same. They use what they have until they can’t any more. Their first thought isn’t to destroy the building and build a new one, but how to improve the one they have and make it better for their purposes. There are exceptions. Old and New Cagli are separated by a bridge. It’s a nice bridge, in a modern ”I’m only 60 or 70 years old” sort of way. But on the left, down below the “new” bridge is one that was used for years - about 2,100 years. The Romans built it over 2,200 years ago. Legionnaires walked across it. Great names in history may have lingered there to view the water. It survived multiple wars, famines, floods and other natural issues.

It was still used until the 1950s. But it couldn’t survive the big trucks. According to Prof. Giovanni Caputo, the bridge was replaced because big trucks couldn’t cross. The goods being transported would be unloaded and hand trucked across the bridge into Cagli. So a new bridge was built. The Roman bridge still sits there, resting for more than 60 years. It was used enough.