Ponte Tura, Lock bridge in San Martino, Grosseto, Italy.
Ponte Tura is a lock bridge in Grosseto that combines water management with neoclassical design elements. The structure crosses a waterway while controlling water flow through its integrated lock system built directly into the bridge.
A first three-arch "ponte tappo" was built between 1828 and 1830 under engineer Alessandro Manetti, during Grand Duke Leopold II of Lorraine's land reclamation of the Grosseto plain; the name "tura" comes from its role regulating the water flow. The monumental seven-arch neoclassical bridge was built between 1905 and 1914 to a design by Giuseppe Botto, chief engineer of the Grosseto civil engineering office, and completed in 1924 with a small power station for the sluice gears. Benito Mussolini visited on 10 May 1930.
This structure reflects the intellectual movement of its time, when European architects studied and incorporated elements from ancient Greek and Roman buildings.
The bridge has been closed since 1979 and is in a state of abandonment, so it cannot be crossed. The annexed former keeper's house now hosts a drug rehabilitation centre. The Steccaia dam and the start of the Beveraggio ditch are a few metres away.
The name "tura" comes from the structure's original job: a wooden, mud and straw barrier that could be closed to regulate how much water from the Ombrone was diverted into the canal. The present seven-arch neoclassical bridge, designed by engineer Giuseppe Botto, was built between 1905 and 1914 and finished in 1924 with a small power station driving the sluice gears.
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