Battiferro, Heritage building in Bologna, Italy

Battiferro is a river support structure on the Navile canal, begun in 1439 to a design by Pietro Brambilla and finished by Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola in 1548. Its central and left sluice gates regulate the water level, while a two-gated lock chamber on the right lets boats pass the drop. A sandstone plaque on the south facade recalls the 1548 Navile works ordered by Pope Paul III.

The Battiferro lock was built in 1439 to a design by Pietro Brambilla along the Navile canal, and Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola completed it in 1548. A sandstone plaque on the south facade recalls the 1548 works ordered by Pope Paul III. The control house was radically rebuilt in 1914.

The name Battiferro recalls the iron-working workshop once driven by the canal's current, whose heavy hammers it powered. Since 2012 the island of the Battiferro has hosted cultural events. A sandstone plaque on the south facade, framed in relief, recalls the Navile works carried out in 1548 under Pope Paul III.

The structure sits where the Canalazzo and Fossette canals divide, along the Navile, and can be reached on foot along the canal towpath. The navigation lock keeps one of its two original gates, and the sandstone plaque on the south facade is best seen from outside. The island hosts cultural events from 2012.

The name Battiferro means "iron beater": heavy hammers in a metal workshop here were driven by the current of the Navile canal. The site sits where the Canalazzo and Fossette canals split, and the navigation lock still keeps one of its two original water-regulating gates.