THE VERRAZZANO BRIDGE IN FLORENCE

After the catastrophic flood of Florence in 1966, Architect Savioli and Engineers Damerini and Scalesse designed and built the youngest bridge in Florence – the Giovanni da Verrazzano bridge in the area of Gavinana.

For quite some time the southern part of the city had been in need of a new valid point to cross the river Arno in order to avoid an excessive concentration of traffic on the San Niccolò bridge. The new bridge joined the two embankments Christopher Colombus and Francis Ferrucci both green zones with public gardens so it was also intended for pedestrians; a "garden bridge" like the Vittoria bridge which leads to the Cascine Park.

Architect Savioli (1917–1982) wanted to respect the natural progression in the construction of the bridges of Florence over the centuries: Savioli had in fact noted that the bridges on either side of the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) – a bridge which is almost a city road with buildings, roofs and walls – became progressively narrower and lighter. In fact this can be verified by observing the bridges going towards the valley, west of Ponte Vecchio (S. Trinita, Carraia, Vespucci) and those going towards the hills east (Ponte alle Grazie and S.Niccoló). Furthermore Savioli wanted to respect the traditional sobriety, linearity and essentiality to be found in Florentine architecture. In his illustrated account of Florence. Savioli wrote: "The formal aspect of the city, its squares, its monuments, its palaces, its houses, is always manifested with characteristics of severity, incisiveness, proportion; [...] and at the same time this formal aspect, although bare and essential, does not represent in reality the renouncement of an expression, the refusal of a characterisation, the acceptance of anonymous forms in the worst sense of the word, but rather it represents, in a certain way, the desire to be significant in the substance rather than in the form . For this reason we have chosen in all our solutions to present structures which are elementary, simple, linear, essential but at the same time which will remain impressed in the memory."

The Giovanni da Verrazzano Bridge is composed of two distinct parts: a central metal girder and a shelf – girder in pre fabricated concrete at both ends. The bridge is 21 metres in width and the single arch is 115 metres long. Amongst the principal characteristics of the bridge are the 4 lateral piazzette suspended along the pedestrian walkway, complete with benches and balconies, in order to render the bridge more "alive".

The construction of the bridge cost 580.850.000 Lire and it was inaugurated in 1971.