Ponte del Risorgimento

Coordinates: 41°55′07″N 12°28′14″E / 41.918725°N 12.470609°E

Ponte del Risorgimento

Ponte del Risorgimento, Rome
Crosses River Tiber
Locale Rome, Flaminio and Della Vittoria Quarters, Italy
Characteristics
Material Reinforced concrete
Total length 159.10 m (522.0 ft)
Width 20.95 m (68.7 ft)
History
Designer Giovanni Antonio Porcheddu
Construction begin 1909
Construction end 1911
Opened April 17, 1911
Details of the bulwarks with the inscriptions by the designer

Ponte del Risorgimento (or briefly Ponte Risorgimento) is a bridge that links Piazzale delle Belle Arti to Piazza Monte Grappa in Rome (Italy), in the Flaminio and Della Vittoria quarters[1]

History and description

The bridge links the area of the Lungotevere delle Armi to Piazzale delle Belle Arti.[2]

The works for the building began in 1909 and were completed two years later. The bridge was designed and built by Giovanni Antonio Porcheddu,[3] with the cooperation of the engineers Giaj and Parvopassu, on the occasion of the exhibition for celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Italian unification. It is the first bridge in Rome made in reinforced concrete, as, at that time, its creator was the only Italian dealer of the patent of the Belgian François Hennebique.

The day of the inauguration, (April 17, 1911), the spectators doubted that the structure, after the removal of the supporting scaffoldings, wouldn't have stood up; on the contrary, Porcheddu was so sure about the effectiveness and reliability of the new technique that he wanted to attend the demolition of the scaffolding on a little boat just below the arch of the bridge, together with his two youngest kids, Giuseppe and Ambrogia.[4] During the ceremony, King Victor Emmanuel III offered Porcheddu the epithet King of reinforced concrete.[3]

In the middle of the bridge, on both bulwarks, are two inscriptions:

INAVGVRATO L'11 MAGGIO DEL 1911
NEL CINQVANTENARIO DELLA PROCLAMAZIONE
DI ROMA CAPITALE D'ITALIA
DALL'AMMINISTRAZIONE POPOLARE CITTADINA
AL RISORGIMENTO ITALIANO
(Inaugurated on may 11, 1911
in the fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation
of Rome as Capital of Italy
by the popular city administration
in memory of Italian Risorgimento)

on one side, and

PONTE IN CEMENTO ARMATO
AD VNICA ARCATA DI 100 M. DI CORDA
CON FRECCIA DI 10 M.
COSTRVITO
CON SISTEMA HENNEBIQUE
DALLA SOCIETA PORCHEDDU ING.G.A
(Reinforced concrete bridge
with a 100-meters-chord single arch
built
with the Hennebique system
by the company Porcheddu Ing. G.A)

on the other.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ravaglioli, p. 52.
  2. ↑ Rendina, p. 953.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Antonio Dore (22 June 2005). "Il Lingotto di Torino ha un’anima ittirese". La Nuova Sardegna. p. 22. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  4. ↑ Vanni Lòriga, cit., Sassari, 2003
  5. ↑ - Notiziario dell'Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Roman. 486 Noir - Notiziario dell'Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Roma noir n. 486

Bibliography