St. Angelo Bridge

This guide to St. Angelo Bridge in Rome centers on Beatrice Cenci, a twenty-two-year-old brought to a scaffold at the foot of the bridge in September 1599 after years of abuse from her father went unanswered by the papal authorities. It follows the family's desperate act, Rome's sympathy for her cause, and Pope Clement VIII's refusal to grant clemency. It also traces how Bernini's ten angels came to line the bridge decades later, two of them carved by his own hand. Look up at the angels on the parapets as you cross, and listen for what Romans still say happens here each September.