The pons is part of the brainstem, and in humans and other bipeds lies between the midbrain (above) and the medulla oblongata (below) and in front of the cerebellum.

The pons is also called the pons Varolii ("bridge of Varolius"), after the Italian anatomist and surgeon Costanzo Varolio (1543–75). This region of the brainstem includes neural pathways or tracts that conduct signals from the brain down to the cerebellum and medulla, and tracts that carry the sensory signals up into the thalamus.