Ponte di Ferro, from the popes’ project to the Nazi massacre: history has passed up there

The dates are enough to understand the symbolic importance of the Iron Bridge in the history of Rome. We are in 1862, Pope Pius IX reigns, born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti. The temporal dominion of the Church is in evident decline. The year before, March 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in Turin which the pontiff, dismayed by the mass of impending news, commented: “For a long time the Supreme Pontiff has been asked to reconcile himself with progress and with modern civilization.