Consolidation works on the Bassano bridge riverbed completed.
16 May 2020
The Ponte degli Alpini in Bassano is a historic structure of exceptional value. In its current configuration, it was designed by Andrea Palladio, who described and illustrated it in I quattro libri dell’architettura (Book III, Chapter IX: “Bridge of Bassano”). Today, it remains one of the very few historic wooden bridges still standing in Europe, alongside the Lucerna bridge.
Since 2014, Foppoli Moretta e Associati has been working on this monument, carrying out, on behalf of the Municipality of Bassano, surveying and diagnostic activities (performed using rope-access techniques) as well as structural monitoring. These operations revealed the exceptional deformation of the bridge, with up to 35 cm of settlement measured at pier 2, and an equally remarkable progression of settlements, reaching 15 cm in a single year at the same point.
Based on this data, the first preliminary safety works were immediately undertaken in September 2015. After a prolonged administrative dispute regarding the results of the works tender, the consolidation and restoration works began in winter 2018–2019, carried out by the company INCO of Pergine Valsugana, with Eng. Dario Foppoli acting as Safety Coordinator. The in-river works involved alternately drying half of the river, shoring and realigning the deck, and consolidating the supporting structure of the piers. After two intense winter seasons, the in-river works were completed fully on schedule, despite unforeseen weather events and the exceptional COVID-19 emergency this spring, which was carefully managed without any interruption of the works.
The bridge is now fully safe, and the consolidation and restoration of the wooden deck structure and the roof are currently underway, with completion expected next spring, in accordance with the contractual timeline.
