The Ponte Vecchio (Old bridge) or Ponte degli Alpini (bridge of the Alpini, who rebuilt it in 1948) is the covered wooden designed by the architect Andrea Palladio in 1569. The bridge is located in Bassano del Grappa and was destroyed many times, the last time in World War II. The bridge spans the river Brenta.
The Brenta was an important means of communication in the 18th century from the mountains of Grappa to Venice.
The pre-existing bridge, existed from 1209 until 1569, was a wooden structure on pylons and covered by a roof and it constituted the fundamental road to guarantee the connection between Bassano and Vicenza.[ citation needed ]
In 1315, Bassano was involved in the war between Padua and Cangrande della Scala. When the latter occupied Marostica and Angarano, two towers were built to defend the bridge.[ citation needed ]
In 1402, the war between Gian Galeazzo and the Carraresi involved also Bassano: the lord of Milan tried to divert the Brenta to deprive Padua of its defences by building a bridge consisting of 94 stone arches equipped with wooden doors used as shutters. In the night between 6 and 7 August a flood overwhelmed the bridge, which was destroyed.[ citation needed ]
In 1511, French troops under General Jacques de La Palice set the bridge on fire to escape the Imperial army during the War of the League of Cambrai.[ citation needed ]
In October 1567, a vigorous flood of the river Brenta swept over the historic bridge. The architect Andrea Palladio was involved in the reconstruction from the months immediately following the collapse: he first designed a stone bridge completely different from the previous one, with three arches on the model of the ancient Roman bridges. However, the City Council rejected the project, requiring the architect not to deviate too much from the traditional structure.
In the summer of 1569, Palladio then presented a second final project of a wooden bridge that practically recalled the previous structure, although radically renewed in terms of technical and structural solutions [1] and of great visual impact. The only reference to an architectural language is the use of Tuscan columns as supports of the architrave that supports the two-pitched roof formed by a series of wooden trusses. The bridge has 5 bays about 13 meters long formed by large wooden beams with slanting breaker that are resting on the four intermediate pylons and on the two side shoulders. The 4 wooden pylons have a hydrodynamic shape compared to the current of the river and are formed by 8 poles about half a meter thick in the ground on the bed of the river and a series of poles at decreasing height that give an oblique profile to the intermediate pylons.
Confirming the technological efficiency of the Palladian structure, the bridge lasted for almost two hundred years, collapsing only because of the overwhelming flood of the Brenta on 19 August 1748. The bridge was rebuilt by Bartolomeo Ferracina faithfully following Palladio’s design.
In 1813, the bridge was then burnt down by Viceroy Eugenio di Beauharnais and later rebuilt in 1821 by Angelo Casarotti, with the same previous apparences.
During the First World War the famous bridge was crossed by Italian troops to face the defence of the territories of the plateau of the Seven Municipalities.
The bridge was then razed to the ground for the third time on 17 February 1945: just after 7pm, when the curfew began, it was torn by a strong explosion. The sabotage action, which was part of a larger plan wanted by the Allies against the bridges of Pedemontana, was carried out by a group of 15 partisans all armed and cycling, two of which towed a cart each loaded with explosives. The attack unfortunately caused the death of a 50-year-old woman and a teenager. The commander of the group was Primo Visentin, a teacher of Loria (TV) who used the pseudonym of "Masaccio", as recalled by the plate still present today on the bridge. [2] [3] During a retaliation, the Nazis took three partisans from the prisons, Federico Alberti, Cesare Lunardi and Antonio Zavagnin, and shot them on the bridge with the usual sign bearing the words "I am a bandit". [4] The bridge was rebuilt according to Palladio’s original design. It was inaugurated on 3 October 1948 with the presence of the Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi. It was rebuilt by Giulio Tessarolo & Figli di Rosà. Since many workers of this firm were veterans of war belonging to the Alpini Corps and wore the typical cap with a pen during the work, the legend arose that it was the Alpini who put it back together. The bridge was severely damaged for the last time by the exceptional flood of 4 November 1966, following which a systematic structural restoration was carried out. Two extraordinary interventions followed: the one of 1990–93 for static consolidation of the foundations and the supporting structures of the four styled, and the one of 2003–6, which was a complex of works of restoration and extraordinary maintenance to counter the inevitable deterioration of the protection products and the connection of the various elements of the bridge. [5] [6]
Recent works to check the stability of the structure and especially of the submerged parts, began at the end of 2015, but at the beginning of May 2018 the works were suspended. The work on the bridge was resumed in 2019 and on 12 February the bridge was raised about 45 cm in the collapsed area. The wooden foundations, completely degraded, have been completely replaced by lattice beams and pillars in stainless steel up to the lean level.
In June 2019, it was declared a National Monument (Law no. 65 of 5 July 2019).
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.
Vicenza ; Venetian: Vicensa[viˈtʃeŋ(t)sa]) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of Venice and 200 kilometres (120 mi) east of Milan.
Vincenzo Scamozzi was an Italian architect and a writer on architecture, active mainly in Vicenza and Republic of Venice area in the second half of the 16th century. He was perhaps the most important figure there between Andrea Palladio, whose unfinished projects he inherited at Palladio's death in 1580, and Baldassarre Longhena, Scamozzi's only pupil.
Andrea Palladio was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of the most influential individuals in the history of architecture. While he designed churches and palaces, he was best known for country houses and villas. His teachings, summarized in the architectural treatise, The Four Books of Architecture, gained him wide recognition.
Pulteney Bridge is a bridge over the River Avon in Bath, England. It was completed by 1774, and connected the city with the land of the Pulteney family which it wished to develop. Designed by Robert Adam in a Palladian style, it is highly unusual in that it has shops built across its full span on both sides. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.
The Brenta is an Italian river that runs from Trentino to the Adriatic Sea just south of the Venetian lagoon in the Veneto region, in the north-east of Italy.
Bassano del Grappa is a city and comune, in the Vicenza province, in the region of Veneto, in northern Italy. It bounds the communes of Cassola, Marostica, Solagna, Pove del Grappa, Romano d'Ezzelino, Campolongo sul Brenta, Conco, Rosà, Cartigliano and Nove. Some neighbourhoods of these communes have become in practice a part of the urban area of Bassano, so that the population of the whole conurbation totals around 70,000 people.
The Rialto Bridge is the oldest of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Connecting the sestieri (districts) of San Marco and San Polo, it has been rebuilt several times since its first construction as a pontoon bridge in 1173, and is now a significant tourist attraction in the city.
Valstagna is a town and comune in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, northern Italy, It is connected to the frazione Carpanè of San Nazario by a bridge and it is accessible by SS47 Provincial Road.The biggest towns nearby Valstagna are Bassano del Grappa, Marostica, Asiago, Trento and Venice.
Montanera is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 70 kilometres (43 mi) south of Turin and about 13 kilometres (8 mi) northeast of Cuneo.
The Ponte Santa Trìnita is a Renaissance bridge in Florence, Italy, spanning the Arno. The Ponte Santa Trìnita is the oldest elliptic arch bridge in the world, characterised by three flattened ellipses. The outside spans each measure 29 m (95 ft) with the centre span being 32 m (105 ft) in length. The two neighbouring bridges are the Ponte Vecchio, to the east, and the Ponte alla Carraia to the west.
Poli Distillerie is an artisan Grappa distillery solely owned by the Poli family, founded in 1898 in Schiavon, near Bassano del Grappa, in the heart of Veneto, Italy. The distillery is currently run by Jacopo Poli together with his siblings Giampaolo, Barbara and Andrea.
The Alpine Brigade "Cadore" was a light Infantry brigade of the Italian Army, specializing in mountain warfare. Its core units were Alpini, the mountain infantry corps of the Italian Army, that distinguished itself in combat during World War I and World War II. The brigade was based in the Italian provinces of Belluno and Vicenza with its headquarters Belluno. The brigade was disbanded in 1997.
The Alpine Brigade "Tridentina" was a light Infantry brigade of the Italian Army, specializing in mountain warfare. Its core units were Alpini, the mountain infantry corps of the Italian Army, that distinguished itself in combat during World War I and World War II. The Alpine Brigade "Tridentina" carried on the colours and traditions of the WWII 2nd Alpine Division "Tridentina".
The 6th Alpini Regiment is a training regiment of the Italian Army's mountain infantry speciality, the Alpini, which distinguished itself in combat during World War I and World War II. The regiment is based in Bruneck and assigned to the Alpine Training Center.
The Alpini are a mountain infantry corps of the Italian Army, that distinguished itself in combat during World War I and World War II. They are also famous in Italy for their songs and choirs.
Ponte Vecchio may refer to:
The Alpini are elite soldiers of the Italian Army who specialize in mountain warfare.
AntonioGaidon (1738–1829), was an architect, urban planner and naturalist.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
