Trezzo sull'Adda Bridge - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Trezzo sull'Adda Bridge or Trezzo Bridge was a medieval

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

bridge at Trezzo sull'Adda

Trezzo sull'Adda

Trezzo sull'Adda is a comune in the Province of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 30 km northeast of Milan on the Adda River.The Naviglio Martesana canal starts from the Adda in Trezzo's territory....

in Lombardy

Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, spanning the Adda

Adda

Adda can refer to:*Adda in Italy.*River Adda in Wales.*Adda , a concept/slang in South Asia, especial Bengal, also Addabazi.*Adda , an archaeological site in Nigeria.*Adda Corporation, a Taiwanese fan manufacturer....

river. Completed in 1377, the single arch bridge held the record for the largest span for over four hundred years, until the beginnings of the Industrial Age

Industrialisation

Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one...

, while it was not until the early 20th century that masonry bridges with larger openings were constructed.

The Trezzo Bridge was built between 1370 and 1377 by order of the lord of Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

Bernabò Visconti

Bernabo Visconti

Bernabò Visconti was an Italian soldier and statesman, who was Lord of Milan.-Life:He was born in Milan, the son of Stefano Visconti and Valentina Doria. From 1346 to 1349 he lived in exile, until he was called back by his uncle Giovanni Visconti...

. Fortified with towers, it provided access to a Visconti

House of Visconti

Visconti is the family name of two important Italian noble dynasties of the Middle Ages. There are two distinct Visconti families: The first one in the Republic of Pisa in the mid twelfth century who achieved prominence first in Pisa, then in Sardinia where they became rulers of Gallura...

castle high above the Adda. During a siege in 1416, the condottiero Carmagnola

Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola

Francesco Bussone, often called Count of Carmagnola , was an Italian condottiero.- Biography :Francesco Bussone was born at Carmagnola, near Turin, in a humble peasant family....

deliberately caused the structure to collapse by weakening one of its abutment

Abutment

An abutment is, generally, the point where two structures or objects meet. This word comes from the verb abut, which means adjoin or having common boundary. An abutment is an engineering term that describes a structure located at the ends of a bridge, where the bridge slab adjoins the approaching...

s. Its single arch featured a span of 72 m, according to other sources even as much as 76 m. By comparison, the second largest pre-industrial bridge vault

Vault (architecture)

A Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...

, the French Pont de Vieille-Brioude

Pont de Vieille-Brioude

Pont de Vieille-Brioude is located in France, crossing Allier River. It is a masonry arch bridge with a span of that was built in 1832....

, spanned nearly 18 m less. The rise of the segmental arch was ca. 21 m, with a span-to-rise ratio of 3.3:1. The arch rip, measured at the springing, was 2.25 m thick, corresponding to a favourable ratio of rib thickness to clear span of only 1/32. The sandstone bridge was almost 9 m wide. Today, the two abutments with overhanging remnants of the arch vault are all that remain.

The Trezzo Bridge was not matched until the metal Wearmouth Bridge of the same span was built at Sunderland, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, in 1796. Longer masonry arch spans were not achieved until the 1903 Adolphe Bridge

Adolphe Bridge

Adolphe Bridge is an arch bridge in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. The bridge takes road traffic across the Pétrusse, connecting Boulevard Royal, in Ville Haute, to Avenue de la Liberté, in Gare...

in Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

Sources

Colin O’Connor: Roman Bridges, Cambridge University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-521-39326-4
Donald Hill: A History of Engineering in Classical and Medieval Times, Routledge, 1984, ISBN 9780415152914
Ervan G. Garrison: A History of Engineering and Technology, CRC Press, 1999, ISBN 9780849398100
Hans Straub et al.: Die Geschichte der Bauingenieurkunst. Ein Überblick von der Antike bis in die Neuzeit, Birkhäuser, 1992, ISBN 9783764324414
Leonardo Fernández Troyano: Bridge Engineering. A Global Perspective, Thomas Telford Publishing, London 2003, ISBN 0-7277-3215-3
M. G. Lay, James E. Vance: Ways of the World: A History of the World's Roads and of the Vehicles That Used Them, Rutgers University Press, 1992, ISBN 9780813526911

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

See also

Sources