Bridge over Po river in Piacenza: A never before seen structure
Autostrada del Sole
Bridge over the Arno River in Levane: a bridge with a dedication
Engineer: Silvano Zorzi and Giorgio Macchi
Engineering firm: Astaldi
Span: 134m
Material: common reinforced concrete
Year of construction: 1963
Static scheme: polygonal arch restrained at springers
The bridge over the Arno River in Levane is exceptionally named after the "father" of the Autostrada del Sole: the Minister of Public Works Giuseppe Romita, who died in 1958 a few years after the end of the construction works.
In charge during the postwar years, Romita signed the construction plan of the Autostrada del Sole and
fought to ensure that its construction would be given to the state.
Romita's plan called to action the most highly skilled engineers and the best infrastructure companies of the peninsula to build the large highway network that would connect the country from Milan to Naples.
The icing on the cake
The bridge in Levane was the last one to be built of the Autosole. It has a sumptuous polygonal arch structure (designed according to the loads funicular) restrained at its springers and has prestressed
reinforced beams.
Its construction met an important obstacle with the unstable ground of the slope from which the bridge would rise, so much so that it was necessary to block the foundation of one of the piers against the arch.
The construction required the most daring Innocenti scaffolding. It was cantilevered from the banks due to the impossibility of taking up, not even temporarily, the artificial basin which is now a naturalistic paradise.
