Azenha Bridge

Azenha Bridge is a road bridge at the corner of Avenida da Azenha and Avenida Ipiranga in Porto Alegre, crossing the Arroio Dilúvio. The current structure was designed in 1934 by Cristiano de La Paix Gelbert and completed in 1936, replacing the earlier crossing known as the Chico da Azenha bridge.

The first bridge here was known as Chico da Azenha, named for Francisco Antonio da Silveira, who ran a water-powered wheat mill on the site from 1777. On the night of 19 September 1835 about two hundred farroupilhas led by Gomes Jardim and Onofre Pires camped nearby and fought the Combate da Ponte da Azenha, opening the Farroupilha Revolution. The present bridge was designed in 1934 by Cristiano de La Paix Gelbert and finished in 1936; it was restored in 2008.

The name comes from the water-powered wheat mill that Francisco Antonio da Silveira ran here from 1777, which locals called Chico da Azenha. The old bridge was known as Ponte do Chico da Azenha, and the neighbourhood and the present bridge kept the name. On 29 June 2008 the city reopened the restored bridge with an open-air staging of the battle by actors and horsemen of the Movimento Tradicionalista Gaúcho, with music by Renato Borghetti.

The bridge stands at the corner of Avenida da Azenha and Avenida Ipiranga, over the Arroio Dilúvio. The stairways down to the stream were altered in the 2008 restoration to keep people from occupying the space beneath the deck, so the lower level is not a through route.

The bridge's nickname, Chico da Azenha, came from Francisco Antônio da Silveira, who ran a water-powered wheat mill on the site from 1777. The mill stood on the southern side of the crossing, where the wheat mills of the capital were concentrated, and the bridge linked them to the centre via the route of today's Avenida João Pessoa.