Name: Ponte Vecchio
Address: Bassano del Grappa, Bassano del Grappa, Veneto, Italy

Ponte Vecchio, also known as Ponte degli Alpini, is a covered wooden bridge over the Brenta River, in Bassano del Grappa.

The bridge, built to a design by Andrea Palladio, and declared a national monument in 2019, is considered one of the most beautiful bridges in Italy.

Over the centuries, Ponte Vecchio was repeatedly destroyed by floods, invasions and wars, requiring numerous rebuilds.

SHORT HISTORY OF PONTE VECCHIO

The first bridge, built in 1209, a wooden structure on pylons covered by a roof, constituted the fundamental communication route between Bassano del Grappa and Vicenza.

In 1315, Bassano was involved in the war between Padua and Cangrande della Scala, Lord of Verona. When the latter occupied Marostica and Angarano, two towers were built to defend the bridge.

In 1402, the war between Gian Galeazzo Visconti and the Carraresi also involved Bassano.

The Lord of Milan attempted to divert the Brenta River to deprive Padua of its defences by building a bridge consisting of 94 stone arches equipped with wooden gates, but on the night between August 6 and 7, a flood destroyed the bridge.

Ponte Vecchio was rebuilt in 1453 after the flood of 1439, but forty years later it was again in ruins. In 1498, it was restored to its former splendor with the help of the Republic of Venice.

In 1511, French troops under the command of General Jacques de La Palice set fire to the bridge to escape the imperial army during the War of the League of Cambrai.

In the following fifty years, the bridge was destroyed and rebuilt several times, first in wood, then in stone, and finally in wood again.

In October 1567, the Brenta River flooded vigorously and swept away the bridge.

Ponte Vecchio

The architect Andrea Palladio was involved in the reconstruction. He initially designed a stone bridge completely different from the previous one, with three arches modeled on ancient Roman bridges.

However, the City Council rejected the project, imposing on the architect not to deviate too much from the traditional structure.

In the summer of 1569, Palladio presented a second definitive project for a wooden bridge that practically recalled the previous structure, although radically renewed in terms of technical and structural design.

As a confirmation of the technological efficiency of the Palladian structure, the bridge resisted for almost two hundred years, collapsing following the overwhelming flood of the Brenta on August 19, 1748.

The bridge was rebuilt following the instructions of the engineer Bartolomeo Ferracina, respecting Palladio’s structure.

In 1813, the bridge was set on fire by the Viceroy Eugene de Beauharnais, and subsequently rebuilt in 1821 by Angelo Casarotti, following the Palladian structure.

During the First World War, the Italian troops passed over the famous bridge to face the defense of the territories of the Asiago Plateau.

The bridge was razed to the ground on the evening of February 17, 1945, by a strong explosion caused by the Italian partisans, who were fighting the fascist troops.

The bridge was rebuilt again according to Palladio’s original design, and it was inaugurated on October 3, 1948, with the presence of the Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi.

The bridge was seriously damaged by the exceptional flood of November 4, 1966, following which a systematic structural restoration was carried out.

In recent years, it underwent a significant restoration process to preserve it for future generations.

Completed in 2021, this restoration involved reinforcing its foundations and preserving Palladio’s original design, ensuring the bridge’s continued resilience against environmental and structural pressures.

ARCHITECTURE OF PONTE VECCHIO

The bridge has 5 spans approximately 13 metres long each formed by large wooden beams with oblique crosspieces that rest on the four intermediate pillars and on the two lateral abutments.

The 4 wooden pillars have a hydrodynamic shape with respect to the river current.

The pillars are formed by 8 piles approximately half a metre thick fixed into the river bed, and by a series of piles of decreasing height that give an oblique profile to the intermediate pillars.