Bridges of the Napoleonic roads in north-western Italy

ABSTRACT: During the Napoleonic period, the road system in north-western Italy was substantially renewed, in particular the routes that connected the cities of the Padana lowland and central Italy. The main innovative element was the beginning of the construction of some stone or masonry great arch bridges, that introduced in Italy the typologies and the techniques of Ponts et Chaussées. The most remarkable realizations are analyzed in the variety of the typology and in the specificity of their own histories. Restoration and conservation of this kind of structures point out specific problems that are strictly connected to the fact that any intervention is hardly possible without changes of functions and of territorial surroundings.

http://www.civil.uminho.pt/masonry/Publications/ARCH07/103_110.pdf