Ponte Coperto | |
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Coordinates | 45°10′51″N9°09′12″E / 45.180739°N 9.153258°E |
Crosses | Ticino |
Locale | Pavia, Italy |
Characteristics | |
Design | stone and brick deck arch bridge [1] |
Total length | 216 metres (709 ft) |
History | |
Construction start | 1949 |
Construction end | 1951 |
Location | |
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The Ponte Coperto ("Covered Bridge") or the Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge") is a stone and brick arch bridge over the river Ticino in Pavia, Italy.
The previous bridge, dating from 1354 (itself a replacement for a Roman construction), was heavily damaged by Allied action in 1945. A debate on whether to fix or replace the bridge ended when the bridge partially collapsed in 1947, requiring new construction, which began in 1949. The new bridge is based on the previous one, which had seven arches to the current bridge's five. [2]
The current bridge, like its predecessor, bears a chapel. The Ponte Coperto was, until the nineteenth century, the only brick bridge over the Ticino from Lake Maggiore to its confluence with the Po [3] .
In pre-Roman times, Ticino flowed into the Po valley below the point where the bridge now stands. At the confluence of the two rivers, in territory then controlled by populations of the Golasecca culture, around 600 BC, according to Livy, the Celtic prince Bellovesus defeated the Etruscans and, after settling on this territory with his people, then founded, further north, the city of Milan. [4]
In 218 BC, when the meeting point between Ticino and Po had moved downstream several kilometers, the Romans, led by Publius Cornelius Scipio, threw a bridge over the Ticino where now stands Pavia, which they destroyed after the defeat, suffered by Hannibal, in the battle of Ticinus. [5]
In Roman times, in the ancient town of Ticinum, there already was a bridge which connected the two shores of the river Ticino in the same location as the contemporary Ponte Coperto. The base of one of the central piers is still visible nowadays when there are low water levels. The orientation of the pier is proof that in Roman age the direction of the current of the river was different. It is believed that the Roman bridge was built during the Augustan age. [6]
According to the legend, in 999, on Christmas Eve, a few pilgrims wanted to attend the midnight mass in town but, because of the thick fog, their boats could not cross the river. Suddenly, a man in red clothes arrived, and he promised that he would immediately build a bridge in exchange of the first soul crossing the bridge. The man in red was the devil, and he was recognised only by the Archangel Michael, who had arrived from the church nearby. Michael pretended to accept the deal but, once the bridge was built, a goat crossed it first. The bridge therefore also became known as Ponte del Diavolo ('Devil's Bridge').
The Roman bridge continued to function even at the beginning of the Middle Ages and was restored in 860 by Emperor Louis the German, who ordered the vassals dependent on the Abbey of Bobbio to come to Pavia to participate in the works. [7] In the Middle Ages (then in modern times, until the advent of the railway), the bridge was very important because it was a nodal point at the intersection of two fundamental trade routes for the entire Po Valley: the river route, through which it was possible to reach the Adriatic and Venice and the "Lombardy" route which, crossing the covered bridge, connected Genoa with Milan. [8] A new bridge was rebuilt in 1351 on the ruins of the Roman bridge, following the project of Giovanni da Ferrara and Jacopo da Cozzo. [9] The bridge was completed in 1354: it was covered and it had ten irregular arches and two towers at its ends, used for defence. [10] The appearance of this bridge, although with only six arches, can be observed in Bernardino Lanzani's frescoes (around 1524) in Saint Theodore's Church. During the construction of the Spanish walls, in the 17th century, the first arch and a half on the city's side, and the first arch on the Borgo side were incorporated in the bastions and therefore closed. Subsequently, new elements were added: a portal of entry on Borgo Ticino's side (1599), a chapel in the centre of the bridge in honour of Saint John of Nepomuk (1746), [11] and lastly a portal of entry, built by Carlo Armati (1822), [12] on the side of the historic centre. In the registry office in Mezzabarba Palace, seat of the municipality of Pavia, a wooden model of the 14th-century bridge, built in 1938, is displayed.
The Allied bombings in September 1944 during the Second World War damaged the ancient bridge and destroyed one of its arches. At the end of the war, a debate was opened over the opportunity to fix the old bridge or to demolish it. Due to the fear that any collapse of the bridge could have caused a flood, in February 1948 the Ministry of Public Works ordered the demolition of the ancient artifact.
A few remains of the piers of the ancient bridge are still visible in the waters of the river.
The construction of the new bridge began in 1949, and its inauguration took place in 1951. An epigraph was placed on the portal of entry on the city's side with the words: Sull'antico varco del ceruleo Ticino, ad immagine del vetusto Ponte Coperto, demolito dalla furia della guerra, la Repubblica Italiana riedificò ('On the ancient passage of the cerulean river Ticino, in the likeness of the old Ponte Coperto, demolished by the war, the Italian Republic rebuilt').
The bridge was built around 30 metres (98 ft) further downstream than the previous one, larger and higher. The arches are larger, therefore fewer (five instead of seven). The bridge is also shorter, as it is positioned exactly perpendicular to the river's current. The old one instead followed the line which links Strada Nuova (in the city centre) and Piazzale Ghinaglia (in Borgo Ticino). The changes in the project were aimed at improving the road conditions on the bridge and facilitating the flows of the water of the river.
In 2005, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of Albert Einstein, a plaque was placed in the central portion of the bridge. The plaque reads An die schöne Brücke in Pavia habe ich oft gedacht ('I have often thought about that beautiful bridge in Pavia'), a quote from a letter written by the scientist in 1947 to an Italian friend which referred to a period of time Einstein had spent in Pavia when he was 15 years old.
The bridge was shown in a famous scene of the film The Overcoat , by Alberto Lattuada, depicting the poor clerk Carmine De Carmine, played by Renato Rascel.
The Ponte Vecchio is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno, in Florence, Italy. The only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during World War II, it is noted for the shops built along it; building shops on such bridges was once a common practice. Butchers, tanners, and farmers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewellers, art dealers, and souvenir sellers. The Ponte Vecchio's two neighbouring bridges are the Ponte Santa Trinita and the Ponte alle Grazie.
Pavia, Lombard: [paˈʋiːa]; Latin: Ticinum; Medieval Latin: Papia) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, 35 kilometres south of Milan on the lower Ticino near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom from 540 to 553, of the Kingdom of the Lombards from 572 to 774, of the Kingdom of Italy from 774 to 1024 and seat of the Visconti court from 1365 to 1413.
A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered wooden bridges typically have a lifespan of only 20 years because of the effects of rain and sun, but a covered bridge could last over 100 years. In the United States, only about 1 in 10 survived the 20th century. The relatively small number of surviving bridges is due to deliberate replacement, neglect, and the high cost of restoration.
The river Ticino is the most important perennial left-bank tributary of the Po. It has given its name to the Swiss canton through which its upper portion flows.
Ticinum was an ancient city of Gallia Transpadana, founded on the banks of the river of the same name a little way above its confluence with the Padus (Po).
The Lombard language belongs to the Gallo-Italic family, and consists of a cluster of homogeneous dialects spoken by millions of speakers in Northern Italy and southern Switzerland, including most of Lombardy and some areas of the neighbouring regions, notably the eastern side of Piedmont and the western side of Trentino, and in Switzerland in the cantons of Ticino and Graubünden. It is a language also spoken in Santa Catarina in Brazil by Lombard immigrants from the Province of Bergamo.
The province of Pavia is a province in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy; its capital is Pavia. As of 2015, the province has a population of 548,722 inhabitants and an area of 2,968.64 square kilometres (1,146.20 sq mi); the town of Pavia has a population of 72,205.
Ponte is the 5th rione of Rome, identified by the initials R. V, and is located in Municipio I. Its name comes from Ponte Sant'Angelo, which connects Ponte with the rione of Borgo. This bridge was built by Emperor Hadrian in 134 AD to connect his mausoleum to the rest of the city. Though Pope Sixtus V changed the rione limits, so that the bridge belongs now to Borgo, not to Ponte anymore, the area has kept its name and a bridge as its coat of arms.
Borgo is the 14th rione of Rome, Italy. It is identified by the initials R. XIV and is included within Municipio I.
Pozzo Ardizzi surname comes from the city of Vigevano province of Pavia, Italy, which was formed around the middle of the fifteenth century from a branch of the family that is separated from the noble surname Ardizzi.
Ponte Vecchio may refer to:
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Pavia in the Lombardy region of Italy.
Visconti Park was the private park of the Visconti and Sforza families, lords, and dukes of Milan. Located in Lombardy, northern Italy, it extended between the Pavia Castle and the Pavia Charterhouse. It covered an area of about 2,200 hectares (22 km2) and was encircled by walls about 25 kilometres (16 mi) in length. It was founded in 1360 by Galeazzo II Visconti and enlarged by his son Gian Galeazzo. Its decay began in 1525 with the damages inflicted during the Battle of Pavia. Today, the park's area mainly serves agriculture purposes, while some portions are nature reserves.
Borgo Nuovo, originally known as via Alessandrina, also named via Recta or via Pontificum, was a road in the city of Rome, Italy, important for historical and architectural reasons. Built by Pope Alexander VI Borgia for the holy year of 1500, the road became one of the main centers of the high Renaissance in Rome. Borgo Nuovo was demolished together with the surrounding quarter in 1936–37 due to the construction of Via della Conciliazione.
Borgo Vecchio, also named in the Middle Ages Via Sancta, Carriera Sancta or Carriera Martyrum, was a road in the city of Rome, Italy, important for historical and architectural reasons. The road was destroyed together with the adjacent quartier in 1936–37 due to the construction of Via della Conciliazione.
Characteristic of the historic center of Pavia is the presence of medieval noble towers that survive in its urban fabric, despite having once been more numerous, as evidenced by the sixteenth-century representation of the city frescoed in the church of San Teodoro. They were mostly built between the 11th and 13th centuries when the Ghibelline city was at the height of its Romanesque flowering.
The church of Santa Maria in Betlem, founded around 1130, stands in the characteristic district of the Borgo of Pavia, located, after the Ponte Coperto, on the other bank of the Ticino river from the city center.
Palazzo Cornazzani is a palace in Pavia, in Lombardy, where, between 1895 and 1896, Albert Einstein lived.
Cesare Angelini was an Italian presbyter, writer and literary critic.