The Devil’s Bridge
One of the most mysterious and fascinating monuments in the whole province of Lucca is certainly the Devil’s Bridge in Borgo a Mozzano, also known as “della Maddalena”.
It is characterized by a unique structure of its kind composed of a large round arch flanked by three minor arches on one side and one on the other.
Legend has it that the builder of the bridge, failing to complete it, asked for help from the devil who in exchange asked for the soul of the first living being to have passed over it. Once the bridge was finished, the builder made a dog cross the bridge, tricking the devil.
There is no historical information on the construction, a substantial intervention is attributed to Matilda of Canossa in 1101, there are no reliable sources on previous periods.
In 1526, on the left bank, a hermitage dedicated to the Maddalena was built, which has now disappeared, also to dilute its diabolical attribution in a period of ferocious inquisitorial persecution, from which the bridge took one of its names (Ponte alla Maddalena). The statue of the Magdalene, from the Della Robbia school, is now placed in the church of San Iacopo di Borgo a Mozzano