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Il Ponte delle Catene, a suspended bridge over the Lima River, is among the most popular Bagni di Lucca attractions. The bridge was begun in 1840 by the famous architect Lorenzo Nottolini and was commissioned by the Duke of Lucca, Charles Louis of Bourbon. The word “catene” means “chains” and, indeed, iron chains figure prominently in the bridge’s construction. The bridge presented, at the time, innovative technological solutions that Nottolini had observed during a recent trip to England, where similar models existed. Actually, even in Florence there were suspended bridges using iron.

Work on the bridge was suspended around the 1840s because the Dukedom of Lucca passed to the Grand Dukedom of Tuscany. Only after the unification of Italy was work begun again and the bridge was inaugurated in 1860. During World War II the Germans destroyed the foundations of the bridge, though it was re-constructed according to its original design and once again inaugurated in 1953. Built in neoclassical style with Roman-looking arches, it has been included in a list of the 100 sites to preserve, published by the World Monuments Watch.

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