We are approaching the end of the year and in this article we will talk about one of the Italian symbols, a lesson in concreteness, rebirth and hope for the future. We are talking about the Genova San Giorgio bridge, built where the Morandi bridge once stood. The latter known in the news for its sudden partial collapse four years ago, which took forty-three victims with it.
Genoa San Giorgio bridge, a lesson of hope for the future
The Genova San Giorgio viaduct was born from a project donated to the city by the Genoese architect Renzo Piano. The senator for life officially presented it less than a month after the collapse of the Morandi bridge. In the presence of the president of the Liguria region John Toti and to the mayor of Genoa Marco Bucci the characteristics of the new bridge were illustrated. 1.067 meters long, supported by 18 reinforced concrete piers and illuminated by 18 street lamps. Of the innovations, the viaduct is monitored by four robot and a system with 240 fiber optic sensors. The latter, designed by Fincantieri group, allow you to constantly pay attention to all the elements useful for the safety of the structure.
Renzo Piano gives the face to the Genova San Giorgio bridge
Renzo Piano, architect of international renown, born in Genoa and naturalized French, was commissioned in 1988 to renovate the ancient port. This area was redeveloped again by the brilliant architect in 2001 on the occasion of the G8. A large ship is the emblem of the structure of theAquarium, while the mast of a sailing ship is the inspiration for the creation of the Bigo. Not far away emerge thered building of the Cotton Warehouses , Biosphere (o Bubble), which they give to the ancient Genoese port one of a kind look.
Inserted in the list of one hundred most influential personalities in the world twigs Time, author of extraordinary international works, the Genoese architect also gives the face to the new bridge, symbol of the rebirth of Genoa and of Italy.
"Remember me"…
One year after the tragedy of the Morandi Bridge Fanpage.it make a video entitled “If you close your eyes and go back to the Morandi Bridge, what do you see? Genoa one year later”. Among the testimonies of the firefighters and some survivors, the words of Rosa, sister of Gerardo. The boy is in fact taken away by the collapse of the bridge: "I heard on the television that the four bodies of the boys from Torre del Greco had been found", she says through tears. And Giovanni Battiloro's father: "Giovanni was a video maker and journalist, he loved this job very much". The testimony of a rescuer is poignant: "The first thing I saw is what I didn't see: I never saw the bridge again."
The Polcevera Viaduct and that dramatic 14th August
It is August 14th 2018 and we are in the full house days for the mid-August celebrations. It is 11:36, an orange alert was issued in Genoa that morning. That pre-holiday is in those moments lashed by a catastrophic scene. The mid-August will be characterized by cranes digging to recover bodies and cars. At 11:36 on 14 August 2018 the entire balanced system of pier 9 of the Morandi bridge in Genoa collapsed. The collapse caused the death of 43 people who were circulating on the bridge in those moments and 566 displaced people from the houses below. “I have serious doubts that the houses under the bridge can be maintained” – he said in those moments Marco Bucciat the head of the municipal administration.
Many children and adults spent the night in shelters. A time that seemed to have frozen to extract the bodies, the remains of the cars and trucks that crossed the bridge. Suddenly fell down, as well as 250 meters of the road section of the structure collapsed into the void.
The structure of the Morandi Bridge
The Morandi Bridge – the work of the engineer Richard Morandi – was built between 1963 and 1967 and constituted the main road axis between the center-east of Genoa, the container port of Voltri-Pra', the Cristoforo Colombo airport and the industrial areas of the Genoese area. Made by Italian Society for Water Pipelines, was 1102 meters long and divided into two main parts. The first 484 meters long and the second - longer - was supported by three pylons. Stays started from the top of the latter.
The heart of the building
The Polcevera Viaduct was therefore a suspension bridge, in which the deck is supported by a series of cables. These stays are anchored to support pylons. The medieval drawbridges can be an example of precursors of "cable-stayed bridge". The Morandi bridge in its second segment consisted of three piers, each independent. The collapse thus affected only pier 9. Below the bridge there were buildings and the railway, as well as the Polcevera torrent. Which is why it was necessary to build this work with a limited number of pylons, in order not to alter the elements characterizing the valley below. Hence the project of the engineer Morandi.
Riccardo Morandi, the engineer of the games of forces and counter-forces
Riccardo Morandi was born in Rome in 1902 and died there in 1989. Among the most avant-garde engineers of the 1927th century, he graduated from the University of Rome La Sapienza in XNUMX, it was he who designed the city of Colleferro. He patented prestressing systems on reinforced concrete and it was he who held conferences around the world on the subject and designed the bridge over Lake Maracaibo. Among his important architectural and engineering works there is also the underground pavilion for the Turin Motor Show and the Amerigo Vespucci bridge in Florence. Morandi's structures are characterized by dynamism. “Morandi works by compensation, that is by contrast. If, for example, a beam is subject to torsion, try to insert a component that exerts a counter-torsion", writes Artribunes.
The new Genoa San Giorgio bridge: Italy reborn
The mayor of Genoa Marco Bucci, appointed extraordinary commissioner for the reconstruction of the Polcevera Viaduct, he was awarded the 2022 Icta Special Prize for infrastructure and major works. “Ponte San Giorgio represents a example of how Italy can accelerate its path to economic recovery through rapidly built infrastructures”, he writes Webuild on its official website.
The new bridge was inaugurated with the evolutions of Frecce Tricolori in the presence of President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. The new viaduct crosses the Polcevera valley and was built in fifteen months of work. Four hundred and fifty days marked by exceptional events such as the covid-19 pandemic which however did not stop the realization.
Marco Bucci, the mayor of the relaunch of Genoa
From manager in the pharmaceutical industry to candidate in the local elections of 2017, Marco Bucci won the ballot on June 25 of that year, conquering the office of mayor of Genoa with 55,24% of the votes. He is the first mayor of the centre-right coalition in Genoa, led since 1975 by centre-left administrations. “Genoa is a city open to everyone, always has been and always will be in the future, that's out of the question.", says the cosmopolitan and anti-racist mayor who, on his first day in office, opens the procedure for the release of compensation for the victims of the November 2011 flood. “Genoa is a city that has always respected everyone, everyone knows that Genoa respects everyone”.
Reconfirmed in the 2022 municipal elections with 55,49% of the vote, Marco Bucci is the welcoming mayor of thesocial and business integration. An Italian entrepreneur and business executive with a long career also abroad, Bucci stated on his re-election: “The city of Genoa has seen five years of work to make Genoa an international city, with a specific programme, and this has been reconfirmed. We want an international city, where it is good to live, work, spend free time, a city with equal opportunities for all. A city where everyone – citizens, businesses, associations – can achieve their goals. I am the mayor of all, representing all Genoese citizens”.
