Vittorio Emanuele II Bridge
Rome Italy
2016

"Winged Victories"
Winged figures, very often in pairs, representing victory and referred to as winged victories, are common in Roman official iconography, typically hovering high in a composition, and often filling spaces in spandrels or other gaps in architecture. These represent the "spirit of victory" rather than a full-blown deity. Pairs of winged victories continued to appear after the Christianization of the Roman Empire and gradually evolved into depictions of Christian angels. A pair, facing inwards, fitted very conveniently into the spandrels of arches, and have been very common in Triumphal arches and similar designs where a circular element is framed by a rectangle.
Vittorio Emanuele II, a bridge named after Italy's first king Victor Emmanuel II (r. 1861-78), was designed by Ennio de Rossi and inaugurated in 1911 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of the Kingdom of Italy.

The stone bridge is carried across the river Tiber on three arches, spanning a distance of 108 metres.

Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II sports a quartet of colossal bronze winged Victories, two at each end, the work of Elmo Palazzi, Luigi Casadio, Amleto Cataldi and Francesco Pifferetti.

Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II is a bridge in Rome constructed to designs of 1886 by the architect Ennio De Rossi. Construction was delayed, and it was not inaugurated until 1911. The bridge across the Tiber connects the historic centre of Rome (Corso Vittorio Emanuele, whose axis the bridge extends, and piazza Paoli at the bridgehead) with the rione Borgo and the Vatican City, close what is left of the ancient Pons Neronianus. The bridge commemorating Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy is carried in three arches spanning a distance of 108 metres. It is decorated at the ends with high socles carrying colossal bronze winged Victories and over each of the piers with massive allegorical travertine sculptural groups.

As you enter the east side of the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II at Piazza Paoli, you will be greeted by two of four Winged Victories. This one is shown holding a bouquet of flowers and a broken chain. These enormous bronze statues of the Roman goddess Victoria pay tribute to the bridge’s namesake, King Victor Emmanuel II. He was victorious in his quest to unify Italy during a political movement called Risorgimento and during the Second Italian Independence War of 1859.