Boffalora sopra Ticino railway bridge, Railway bridge in Boffalora sopra Ticino and Trecate, Italy
The Boffalora sopra Ticino railway bridge is an upper-deck arch bridge over the Ticino between Boffalora sopra Ticino and Trecate, on the Turin-Milan line. It is 305.16 metres long, with 11 arches and 10 piers, and its facing is entirely of Montorfano granite. Since 1962 it has carried only railway traffic.
Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the bridge in 1808 to link France with his Kingdom of Italy, but work stopped with his fall in 1813. In 1823 Carlo Felice of Savoy and the Austrian Empire agreed to resume it; the Novara engineer Stefano Ignazio Melchioni built 11 arches on 10 piers clad in Montorfano granite, completed in 1858. In 1859 Austrian troops tried to blow it up during the Battle of Magenta, yet it stayed partly passable and Napoleon III's Imperial Guard crossed.
The bridge is also called Ponte di San Martino, after the San Martino hamlet of Boffalora sopra Ticino that it links to Trecate. Since 1962 it has carried only trains of the Turin-Milan line, the road having moved to an adjacent new bridge. The 18 October 1858 railway agreement between Piedmont and the Lombardo-Veneto gave the crossing its rail function.
The bridge can be viewed from the valley below and nearby paths that offer good vantage points along the route. Best visibility comes when approaching by train or from the adjacent areas on either riverbank.
The bridge is clad entirely in Montorfano granite, with 11 arches on 10 piers; the engineer was the Novarese Stefano Ignazio Melchioni, and the final cost was 3215 Austrian lire. In August 1944 about ten British aircraft flew very low to bomb it, but the bombs missed.
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