Photographs of Bassano del Grappa and the Ponte Vecchio

Photo gallery dedicated to Bassano del Grappa, a town in the province of Vicenza set where the river Brenta enters the Venetian plain, at the foot of Monte Grappa and the Asiago plateau. The town develops along both banks of the river, joined by the Ponte Vecchio, also known as the Ponte degli Alpini: a covered structure built entirely of timber, designed by Andrea Palladio in 1569 and rebuilt several times to the original drawing, most recently in 1948 after its destruction during the Second World War. The built front facing the Brenta consists of houses set against the escarpment, rendered in ochre tones, with timber shutters and balconies over the water; behind them, on the raised level, lies the historic centre with its towers. Bassano preserves the Ezzelini Castle, the Torre Civica, Piazza Libertà and Piazza Garibaldi, the Museo Civico and Palazzo Sturm, home to the ceramics and printing collections. The town is also known for the production of grappa, documented on a commercial scale from the late eighteenth century, and for its association with the Alpini corps, to which the bridge has been dedicated since 1928. Its position at the mouth of the Valsugana made it for centuries a point of passage between the plain and the alpine valleys, a condition that shaped both the urban layout and the military history of the area, particularly during the First World War.