GRAVINA IN PUGLIA IS A small town located on the edge of a ravine above a small river. Inhabited since the Paleolithic, it was later a Greek and then Roman city. While the city is entirely on one side of the ravine, some religious sites were built on the other one, making the construction of a bridge necessary.

It is not clear when the bridge was built exactly but it is mentioned for the first time in the mid-17th century. After an earthquake hit the area in 1686 the bridge became unstable and later collapsed due to a second tremor in 1722.