A big fire on Saturday evening significantly harmed Rome’s famed “Iron Bridge”, with parts of the 19th-century structure plunging into the Tiber River.

The bridge, which was opened in 1863 and also whose formal name is Ponte dell’ Industria (Market Bridge), connects the densely populated Ostiense as well as Portuense areas.

Pope Pius IX attended the 1863 launch of the bridge, among the last major building and construction works in Rome in the winding down years of the papal state controlling the city, which would soon become the funding of merged Italy.

The fire broke out on the eve of elections for the next mayor, in which the primary problem has been the general degeneration of infrastructure and also civil services in the Italian funding.

Romans call the 131-metre long bridge “Ponte di Ferro” (Iron Bridge), since most of Rome’s other bridges are made from rock.

Authorities stated there were no injuries from the fire, which showed up from far away as flames fired into the night skies.

Media records claimed it may have been begun by a short circuit in shacks listed below the bridge. Firefighters stated the blaze, which was put out throughout the evening, was fuelled by a damaged gas pipe.

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Bordering locations were left without electrical power for numerous hours.

The bridge, utilized for hectic roadway website traffic in between both neighbourhoods, was closed indefinitely pending look at its security.

A plaque at the bridge pays tribute to 10 females who were executed on it in 1944 by German SS soldiers occupying Rome during the last years of The second world war. The ladies were penalized for having occupied a pastry shop to feed their families in the city where war made food scarce.