Floating bridge by Olivier Grossetête to span Tiber in Rome

French artist Olivier Grossetête (born 1973 in Paris) will unveil a temporary installation called 'Ponte Farnese' on July 13, 2021, over the Tiber near Ponte Sisto in Rome. The ephemeral structure, built collectively with citizen participation and supported by Italian construction multinational Webuild, will be suspended 18 meters high using aerostatic balloons. It references Michelangelo's unrealized 16th-century project commissioned by Pope Paul III Farnese to connect Palazzo Farnese to the gardens on the opposite bank (now Villa Farnesina, seat of the Accademia dei Lincei). The original bridge was only partially built in 1603, known as 'Arco dei Farnesi' on Via Giulia, and never completed due to enormous costs, a 1612 fire that destroyed libraries and archives, the extinction of the Farnese family in 1731, and the transfer of the palace to the Bourbons, who moved artworks including the Farnese Bull to Naples. Grossetête has created similar temporary architectures in France, Spain, China, and Russia. The installation will remain floating for a few days, coinciding with major restorations of Palazzo Farnese.