A bridge collapsed in northern Italy. Italian pedestrian bridge Ponte Vecchio. bassano del grappa

The Italian Bridge is located in the center of St. Petersburg, next to Nevsky Prospekt. It is a continuation of Italianskaya Street and crosses the Griboyedov Canal, connecting Spassky Island with Kazan Island. Nearby are the famous sights of the city: the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, the Zoshchenko Apartment Museum, the Mikhailovsky Theater and the monument to Ostap Bender.

Story

The Italian Bridge took its name from the palace of the same name, built in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the 18th century. The palace was intended to host balls, assemblies and other entertainment events for representatives of the aristocracy. The street located nearby was called Bolshaya Italianskaya, and later simply Italianskaya. And in the place where the bridge was subsequently built, it was possible to cross the canal on a yawl - a small two-oared boat.

The crossing project was proposed by a young ambitious engineer named Kolpitsyn. He really wanted the city's residents to be able to walk across the canal on a bridge, rather than on boats. Despite the fact that the city government did not support the project, he began construction with his own funds. So in 1896, in continuation of Italianskaya Street, the master erected wooden bridge, consisting of one span.

He used granite-lined canal walls as supports. The span consisted of ten diagonal plank trusses, and xylolite tiles served as floors. For convenient passage of ships, the bridge was raised above the embankment level by 1.5 m, and stairs were installed at the entrances. The cost of construction was 3 thousand rubles, but the city refused to reimburse the engineer for the money spent. Moreover, the authorities did not allow setting a fee for crossing the bridge, even a symbolic one, 1 kopeck. As a result, L. Kolpitsyn was forced to transfer the crossing to the city free of charge.

In 1902, according to the design of K. Bald, builders replaced the xylolite covering of the bridge with a deck made of wide and massive boards. After 10 years, the crossing underwent a major overhaul, installing wooden pile supports and replacing the support system with a braced one.

The next reconstruction took place in 1937 during the laying of heat pipes and electrical networks in St. Petersburg. The Italian bridge was completely rebuilt and began to serve as a bridge and a heat pipeline at the same time. Its length was 18 m, width - a little more than 2 m.

By 1955, the crossing was in disrepair and required repairs. Engineers A. Gutzeit and V. Vasilkovsky developed a project for a metal bridge in the classicism style of the times of Joseph Stalin. The heat pipes were placed under the covering, and the walls of the embankments, also repaired, were again used as supports. The length of the crossing increased to 21 m, the width to 3 m. The supports were decorated with floor lamps with bright lamps, and the railing sections were decorated with capitals in the shape of buds. The bridge successfully fit into the architectural appearance of the area, and in 2002, after the installation of lighting, it became even more attractive.

Italian Bridge in our time

Italian bridge, intended only for pedestrians, single-span beam system. It rests on the granite walls of the embankments of the Griboyedov Canal, and the role of load-bearing elements is performed by two curved beams. The top of the 19.66 m long span is covered with reinforced concrete slabs and asphalt concrete. The width of the crossing is 3 m.

The parapet sections are cast from cast iron and decorated with applied decorative elements: swords and shields with five-pointed Soviet stars. At the entrances there are granite pedestals with floor lamps, to which artistic octagonal lamps in the style of Russian classicism are attached.

Tourists are constantly walking in the center of St. Petersburg, so graceful bridge, recognized as an object of cultural heritage of the country, does not go unnoticed. In addition, it opens beautiful view on the Savior on Spilled Blood - a temple with multi-colored domes and extraordinary mosaics.

Thanks to its favorable location and architectural solutions, the bridge was captured during the filming of the film “The Adventures of Italians in Russia.” It can be seen in the episode when, during excavations, sculptures of lions supposedly standing nearby were destroyed. In reality, the statues depicted in the film did not exist.

The bridge is located near the Nevsky Prospekt station, the nearest bus stops and minibus taxis– “Nevsky Prospekt” and “Arts Square”.

The Italian Bridge, spanning the Griboedov Canal (formerly the Catherine Canal), is located in the alignment of Italianskaya Street, which is approximately halfway between Nevsky Prospect and the Cathedral of the Savior on Spilled Blood. It is noteworthy that this bridge is popular place visiting tourists, which is why it is also attractive for street musicians, who can thus earn good income. With its appearance, the bridge recalls the times when residents of St. Petersburg could afford to build such structures with their own financial resources. So, in 1896, the Italian Bridge was erected by engineer L.N. Kolpitsyn, using his financial savings, and was originally wooden, single-span, intended for pedestrian traffic. The span of the bridge was made of nailed plank trusses of the braced system, and the walls of the embankment of the Griboyedov Canal served as supports for the structure. Xylolite slabs, which had not previously been used in bridge construction, were used as bridge floors. A special feature of the bridge was its position above the canal, since in order to maintain the size of the bridge, external stairs were built along the embankments, designed to rise to the level of the bridge deck.

The bridge owes its name to the Italian Palace, built in the 1720s on the left bank. The palace was built for the purpose of holding assemblies and other public meetings of the St. Petersburg nobility. Its appearance exactly corresponded to the model of Italian pleasure houses, which is why it began to be called Italian. Behind the palace, in east direction up to Znamenskaya Street (now Vosstaniya Street), a garden with greenhouses and greenhouses was laid out. It was also called Italian.

In 1902, a small reconstruction of the bridge took place, when, under the leadership of the architect K. Bald, the deck of the structure was made of sheet piling boards. In 1911, the Italian Bridge was rebuilt according to the design of engineer K.V. Efimiev, after which it remained wooden, but already had pile foundations. In 1937, the structure underwent a major overhaul due to the need to transfer the heating network across the Griboyedov Canal, after which the Italian Bridge became one of the so-called heating pipeline bridges in St. Petersburg, of which there are quite a few in the city. It is noteworthy that almost all such St. Petersburg heat-conducting crossings have similar design data, similar in their parameters and architectural qualities.

In 1955, during the repair of the canal embankments, the bridge was completely rebuilt due to its deplorable, emergency condition. The construction of the new Italian Bridge was carried out according to the design of engineer A. D. Gutzeit and architect V. S. Vasilkovsky. The rebuilt bridge appeared to be a single-span, metal, girder system. It was decided to place the heating pipes under the coating structure, which is why the minimum height of the two main welded beams, which act as load-bearing elements of the structure, turned out to be equal to 0.7 meters. The supports of the structure, as in previous times, were the retaining walls of the canal embankments. The total length of the bridge is 21 meters, and its width, in general, is not great, only 3 meters. The supports are decorated with floor lamps with octagonal openwork lanterns. The bridge was covered with reinforced concrete slabs, roll insulation and a layer of asphalt.

It should be noted that the decor of the bridge is quite diverse. The sections of the railing are made of round rods, on which capitals in the form of buds are depicted, located between cast-iron pedestals with overlay elements. Interestingly, the elements on the pedestals resemble shields with crossed stylized swords and longitudinal peaks on which acacia branches are strung. The façade sides of the main beams of the Italian Bridge are decorated with very picturesque artistic fragments. By the way, the bridge, made in the spirit of Stalinist classicism, fits well into the architectural ensemble buildings located on the embankment of the Griboyedov Canal.

In 2002, the Italian Bridge was transformed again. As if new life The specialists of the St. Petersburg Lensvet inspired it, developing and implementing its lighting according to an individual project. Now nightlife This beautiful building is illuminated by four light sources at once, emanating from spotlights mounted on special stands.

The text was prepared by Anzhelika Likhacheva

Italian Bridge - single-span metal pedestrian bridge through the Griboyedov Canal (formerly the Ekaterininsky Canal) in the Central District of St. Petersburg. It connects Kazansky and Spassky islands. Type of construction - beam. Material - steel. Total length - 19.66 m. Bridge width - 3 m.

The Italian Bridge is clearly visible from the intersection of Nevsky Prospekt and the Griboyedov Canal. It is located approximately in the middle of the distance between the Cathedral of the Savior on Spilled Blood (Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ) and Nevsky Prospekt. The bridge is a continuation of Italian Street. Upstream is the Novo-Konyushenny Bridge, downstream -.

At the beginning of the 18th century, a palace was built on the left bank of the Fontanka River, modeled on Italian pleasure houses; it was called Italian. It was intended for holding assemblies. The garden, called Italian, with greenhouses and greenhouses, extended to Znamenskaya Street (modern Vosstaniya Street). It was this garden that gave the name to the street that ran along it. At first it was called Sadovaya Italianskaya, then - Malaya Italianskaya. Another street, which went to the right bank of the Fontanka opposite the Italian Palace, received the name Bolshaya Italianskaya. In 1902, Malaya Italianskaya was renamed Zhukovsky Street, Bolshaya Italianskaya became simply Italianskaya. And on the site of the temporary Italian Bridge at that time there was a yawl crossing.

In 1896, a young engineer, graduate of the Institute of Railways L.N. Kolpitsyn proposed building a pedestrian bridge on the site of boat (yalk) transportation. However, the City Council did not support the proposal. But L.N. Kolpitsyn, at his own expense and according to his own design, built a single-span wooden bridge with supports on the granite walls of the canal embankments connecting Bolshaya and Malaya Italianskaya streets.

The span structure consisted of 10 board-and-nail trusses of a braced system; the clear span was 19.7 m. The foundation for the bridge was the embankment wall. The crossing deck was raised 1.4 meters above the embankment level for convenient passage of ships, and stone stairs were built at both ends of the bridge (this layout has been preserved to this day). An innovation for bridge construction at that time was the use of xylolite slabs for paving the bridge deck (xylolite - “wood-stone”, xylolith - an artificial building material consisting of a mixture of sawdust, shavings and plant waste pressed under high pressure with magnesium cement and magnesium chloride oxide ).

The construction of the bridge cost L.N. Kolpitsyn 3,000 rubles. On October 6, 1896, the grand opening of the Italian Bridge took place. The city authorities accepted the bridge, but refused to compensate the young maximalist engineer for the funds spent on construction. L.N. Kolpitsyn wanted to make passage across the bridge a toll and charge passers-by 1 kopeck, but this was also denied to him by the authorities. As a result, the young engineer simply donated the bridge to the city.

In 1902, the bridge was rebuilt according to the design of the architect K. Bald with the replacement of xylolite slabs with boardwalk: 37-mm tongue-and-groove boards.

In 1911 - 1912, the bridge was rebuilt according to the design of engineer K.V. Efimieva. The new bridge was made of cobblestones, a braced system, and was supported by three-row wooden piles in two mutually perpendicular directions. Its span was reduced to 9.1 m.

In 1937, the bridge was completely rebuilt to lay two heating pipes and electrical networks between its girders. Now the Italian Bridge served as a heat pipeline and a pedestrian bridge at the same time. Judging by a document from 1946, the length of the bridge was 18.4 m, the width between the railings was 2.07 m, the opening of the bridge was 8.5 m; the wrought iron railings had a simple design.

In 1955, due to the emergency condition of the bridge and major repairs of the embankments of the Griboyedov Canal, a new metal single-span bridge was built. The project in the style of Stalinist classicism was developed at the Lengiproinzhproekt Institute by architect V.S. Vasilkovsky and engineer A.D. Gutzeit. It was then that the Italian Bridge acquired its modern appearance.

In 2002, the Italian Bridge was transformed again. Specialists from St. Petersburg "Lensvet" developed and implemented the illumination of the bridge according to an individual project. Now the bridge is illuminated simultaneously by four light sources emanating from spotlights mounted on special stands.

The bridge has a steel beam span structure with a curved outline. The load-bearing elements of the span are two welded main beams with a curved bottom chord. The main beams are supported by the retaining walls of the canal embankments. The minimum height of the beams in the middle of the span, equal to 0.7 m, is determined by the dimensions of the heating pipes located under the roof structure. The cross braces are reverse half-frames, the crossbars of which carry the longitudinal middle beam of an I-section. The top of the span is covered with reinforced concrete prefabricated slabs. The roadway of the bridge is covered with asphalt concrete. The length of the bridge is 19.66 m; width - 3 m; design span - 19.5 m; the distance between the axes of the main beams is 2.39 m.

The decor of the bridge is not original, but it is varied and has high artistic qualities. The decorations are made in the style of decorative elements of bridges built in the first half of the 19th century. The railing is made of artistic cast iron and ends on abutments with granite pedestals with metal floor lamps with lanterns stylized in Russian classicism (very similar floor lamps on the Green Bridge over the Moika). They were so well styled that three of them were stolen in 1993, probably to be sold as antiques. In 1996, the “Venetian” lanterns and railing were restored.

Sections of the bridge railing are made of vertical round rods with peculiar capitals in the form of opening buds and decorated with cast-iron oval posts with applied elements: round shields with crossed stylized swords, longitudinal peaks with acacia branches strung on them. The shields are decorated with Soviet five-pointed stars, without which not a single decoration of that time could do! In terms of composition, character and content, the bridge fencing is in many ways close to classical designs, although they were made in the artistic manner of the mid-20th century.

The facade sides of the main load-bearing beams are also decorated in the same way as was customary in the era of classicism, but by different means. Instead of sculptural ornamentation of an animal or plant nature, the architect resorted to dividing the field of beams along curved arcs into three stripes, reminiscent of the division of the entablature of classical buildings into an architrave, frieze and cornice. The upper and lower stripes are decorated with various architectural details.

The Italian Bridge fits very organically into the surrounding urban environment, and this is probably why the Italian Bridge was chosen for filming an episode of the film “The Incredible Adventures of Italians in Russia”: during the excavations, statues of lions were allegedly destroyed, which in fact were never near the Italian Bridge.

The Italian Bridge is always bustling with life: street musicians and artists, beggars and just tourists rush to take pictures of themselves against the backdrop of a beautiful view of the cathedral.

The bridge is cultural heritage Russian Federation, object No. 7802241000.

Address: St. Petersburg, Griboyedov Canal embankment, 11.
The nearest metro station (300 m) is Nevsky Prospekt, exit to the Griboyedov Canal.

Death toll in the collapse road bridge Morandi in Genoa, Italy, has increased to 22 people, said Italian Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Edoardo Rixi.

Eight people were injured, the BBC reported.

The collapsed bridge is part of the A10 motorway, which runs along the coast. Mediterranean Sea and connects Genoa and the French border city of Ventimiglia. Its height is 50 meters.

A section of the bridge collapsed onto the railroad tracks below, and cars and trucks fell along with the structure. Currently, rescuers are clearing the rubble, removing the bodies of the dead and wounded, who are being taken to hospitals in Genoa.

The photo shows that it collapsed central part bridge.

The structure was erected in the 60s of the last century and was known as the Morandi Bridge. In 2016 it hosted renovation work.

The collapsed section is tens of meters long. There is no official information about the cause of the collapse. According to one version, a possible cause could be “structural fatigue.” In addition, the storm that is currently raging in the region could have triggered the disaster.

Morandi Bridge

The collapsed bridge is named after the Italian engineer Riccardo Morandi, who was the author of the project. It is also known as "Brooklyn" due to its vague resemblance to.

The bridge has a combined support-cable structure, in which, in addition to supports, the roadway is supported by three pylons with cables. The length of the bridge is a kilometer, and the height of the pylons is almost 100 m.

The bridges built by Ricardo Morandi, with their impressive design, are distinguished by a simplified design: instead of the usual cables, the engineer used a few concrete beams that act as cables supporting the bridge.

Another Morandi project, a bridge in Venezuela, actually a twin of the bridge in Genoa, also became a victim of disaster: it collapsed in 1964 after a ship crashed into it.

The Morandi Bridge connected two districts of Genoa - Sampierdarena and Cornigliano; it was located in a densely populated area in close proximity to residential buildings and busy streets.

After the accident, dozens of cars piled up on both sides of the bridge, including in the tunnel, blocking traffic on this section of the highway.

Recently, the Italian construction company Autostrade per l’Italia, which maintains the country’s roads, has been carrying out scheduled repair work on the bridge. The company's stock quotes on the stock exchange fell sharply immediately following information about the collapse.

According to company representatives, they constantly monitored the condition of the bridge structures. The head of the company, Giovanni Castellucci, said that the bridge was not in a dangerous condition.

Recall that on March 15 in Miami at Florida International University, killing at least 6 people.

The bridge over the highway can be completed in just a day. During its construction, “accelerated bridge construction” technologies were used for the first time in order not to interrupt traffic flow on the 8-lane highway.

Most of the bridge was assembled on the side of the road and then installed over the highway.

The Italian pedestrian bridge has been moved slightly north of the alignment of Italian Street, after which it is named.
There used to be a small boat transport facility on this site. In 1896, a single-span wooden bridge was built in its place, connecting Bolshaya and Malaya Italian streets. Its span structure consisted of nailed plank trusses with a braced system; the clear span was 19.7 meters. The author of the bridge project was engineer L.N. Kolpitsyn. The characteristic features of the Italian Bridge were its position above the canal (to maintain the undercarriage dimensions, it was necessary to build external stairs on both sides to climb the bridge; this design has been preserved to this day), as well as the use of xylolite slabs, which was new for bridge construction at that time, for paving the bridge deck.
In 1902 Italian Bridgewas reconstructed and rebuilt according to the design of the architect K. Bald with the replacement of xylolite slabs with ordinary 37 mm boards. Approximately. in 1911-1912 this bridge was replaced by a new wooden bridge designed by engineer K.V. Efimieva. The new bridge was made of cobblestones, a braced system, and was supported by three-row wooden piles in two mutually perpendicular directions; at the same time, its span decreased to 9.1 meters.
Over time, the bridge became dilapidated and in 1937, the Italian Bridge was completely rebuilt to lay two heating pipes between its girders. Thus, the Italian Bridge has replenished the number of heat pipeline bridges - pedestrian bridges that combine the functions of pedestrian traffic with the passage of heat and electrical networks. Judging by a document from 1946, the length of the bridge was 18.4 meters, the width between the railings was 2.07 meters, the opening of the bridge was 8 and a half meters; the wrought iron railings had a simple design. In 1955, due to the repair of the embankments of the Griboedov Canal and the emergency condition of the bridge, it was completely rebuilt in the classicist style. It was then that the Italian Bridge finally acquired its modern appearance. The engineering part of the project was developed at Giproinzhproekt by architect V.S. Vasilkovsky and engineer A.D. Gutzeit.
The decor of the Italian Bridge is simple and unoriginal, but varied and has high artistic qualities. The decorations are made according to designs inspired by the decorative elements of bridges built in the first half of the 19th century. Sections of the bridge railing are made of vertical round rods with peculiar capitals in the form of opening buds and decorated with cast-iron oval posts with applied elements: round shields with crossed stylized swords, longitudinal peaks with acacia branches strung on them. The shields are decorated with five-pointed stars, which indicates the time when the bridge was created. In terms of composition, character and content, the bridge fencing is in many ways close to classical designs, although they were made in the artistic manner of the mid-20th century. The appearance of floor lamps and lanterns also resembles examples of Russian classicism (very similar floor lamps are on the Green Bridge over the Moika). The facade sides of the main load-bearing beams are also decorated in the same way as was customary in the era of classicism, but by different means. Instead of sculptural ornamentation of an animal or plant nature, the architect resorted to dividing the field of beams along curved arcs into three stripes, reminiscent of the division of the entablature of classical buildings into an architrave, frieze and cornice. The upper and lower stripes are decorated with various architectural details.
The Italian Bridge fits very organically into the surrounding urban environment. The decorative style, characteristic of the 19th century, successfully combines with the granite embankment of the Griboedov Canal and the surrounding buildings.
An interesting detail - the Italian Bridge went down in cinema history as an active participant in the filming of the film “The Incredible Adventures of Italians in Russia.” It was near him that the mafioso from Rome conducted his “excavations” and statues of lions were scattered next to him. But there were never any lions there - this is an invention of the filmmakers.

Decor of the Italian Bridge.

Lanterns of the Italian Bridge.

Deck of the Italian Bridge.