The covered walkway of the Ponte Vecchio in Bassano del Grappa with tricolour cloths and timber balustrades, Veneto
The photograph is taken at the entrance to the Ponte Vecchio in Bassano del Grappa and follows, along its axis, the covered walkway that crosses the Brenta over a total span of a little under ninety metres. The pedestrian route is bounded by two rows of square-section timber columns carrying the trusses and the pitched roof; between the columns runs a continuous balustrade of turned balusters, which leaves the view open onto the river and both banks. The design goes back to Andrea Palladio, who in 1569 replaced the earlier masonry bridges with a structure entirely of timber, better suited to withstanding floods and capable of being rebuilt to the same drawing — a condition that allowed its restoration after the collapses and destructions of the following centuries, the last of these in 1948. From the roof framing hang the tricolour cloths put up for the commemorations of the Alpini corps, to which the bridge has been dedicated since 1928. Lanterns are aligned along the ridge beam. The paving, in concrete and stone slabs, shows the wear of passage and reflects the diffused light from outside. The moment is that of a morning of winter haze: the light enters from the sides without marked direction, drawing the elongated shadows of the balusters across the floor. Through the openings can be seen, on the right, the houses of the eastern bank with their timber balconies and, on the left, the embankment and the buildings of the opposite side. At the far end of the walkway, where the bridge meets the historic centre, a few figures are visible in perspective.
