Ponte dei Leoni
Stand at the middle of Ponte dei Leoni and you'll notice the four marble lions before anything else — one at each corner, calm and slightly worn, carved by the sculptor Tantardini. Below them, the Lambro River moves under three granite-abutted arches, and if you walk to the near end of the bridge, you can still make out the curve of an older arch: the Roman Arena Bridge that preceded this one, absorbed rather than erased when the new road was laid in 1842.
The bridge sits on the axis of what was once Via Ferdinandea, now Via Vittorio Emanuele II, a few minutes' walk from the Duomo. It's a short crossing, but the two pedestrian paths that branch off along the river reward a slower pace — balconied houses line the banks where grain mills and wash houses once stood.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who come back tend to pair the bridge with the riverside walk south along the Lambro, particularly in spring when the water runs full. Afterwards, Parliamo di Thé — a few minutes away — does a hot chocolate with meringue that earns its reputation. Go on a weekday morning if you want the bridge to yourself.
The story behind Ponte dei Leoni
Romans first put a crossing here over the Lambro, a fact made tangible by the arch of the original Arena Bridge still visible at the edge of the present structure. The current bridge dates to 1842, built to carry the newly opened Via Ferdinandea — a road whose name and ambitions were shaped in part by the French occupation and the influence of Napoleon's family on the city's urban form.
Tantardini's four marble lions were part of the original design, giving the bridge both its popular name and its quiet civic gravity. The surrounding quarter — mills, irrigation channels, wash houses — has largely disappeared, but the balconied houses that faced the river remain, and the bridge now anchors a marked walking route along the Lambro connecting several of Monza's older crossings.
Good to know
Monza is nine minutes from Milano Centrale on Trenord (lines S7, S8, S9, S11 also connect). No admission cost. Allow 20–30 minutes for the bridge and a stretch of the riverside Acqua trail, which links several other bridges within 1.3 kilometres. Skip it in a dry August when the river level drops noticeably.
Spring (April–May) and early autumn (September–October) are the most comfortable seasons to linger here — mild temperatures and the river at reasonable levels. Summer brings humidity and afternoon thunderstorms; winter is cold and often grey, with occasional snow, though the stone and the lions look their most austere against a white sky.
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What travellers say about Ponte dei Leoni
Very beautiful bridge in the town of Monza with the river passing through and the view of the buildings in the back. I recommend it as a tourist attraction.
I'm sure I'm being a philistine, but aside from the (nice) lion statues and the fact that it's a stone bridge and hence "pretty", I'm not really sure that it offers much as an attraction. I could equally write a review of a lamppost and it'd be the same. It's s stone bridge. It's nice. There's nothing wrong with it. But it's not somewhere you'd specifically go to visit.
I will always come back to Monza just to have this ice cream!! The best gelato ever!
One of my favorite places to relax in the city, the addition of the cafes allow you to on a nice day, and the tide is high on the river, enjoy a quick drink in a notoriously Lombardian fashion.
Cute little short bridge , but with quite a history to it 🦁 there are 4 statuettes of lions , on each points of the bridge. However, it was the Romans who first constructed the bridge on that spot.
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