Dry Tiber Reveals Nero’s 2,000-Year-Old Bridge Ruins in Rome

A scorching, dry summer has lowered the Tiber’s flow in central Rome to about 80 cubic meters per second, exposing the remains of the 2,000-year-old Pons Neronianus. While archaeologists believe the bridge dates to Caligula and was later associated with Nero, its visible ruins from the Bridge of Angels offer a rare glimpse into ancient Rome, with full blocks sometimes visible above water this year for the first time since a 2022 drought. The drought, part of a broader heat wave and water crisis in Italy, has also unearthed modern debris upstream and underscores the region’s climate-related challenges.