Public Works. Ponte delle Gabelle, rehabilitation and restoration work completed
Milan, June 2 2020 - The rehabilitation and restoration work on the Gabelle Bridge which was started before the pandemic and was one of the first to restart after the lockdown has been completed.
The restoration project, carried out by the Municipality in agreement with the Superintendency, involved the reclamation of the area from shrubs, weeds, mosses and molds that had grown over the years and the subsequent preventive treatment against attacks by microorganisms; the cleaning and sandblasting of stones and bricks and their restoration using coherent material to bring the old walls to light; the sanding and repainting of the iron parapets; the static consolidation of the underpass and stairways and the reorganization of the existing lighting system.
"With the restoration of the Ponte delle Gabelle - declares Marco Granelli councilor for Mobility and Public Works - we are giving back to the city a characteristic corner of the Milan of the Navigli. Go down from the Bastioni di Porta Nuova along the large stone staircase to arrive in via San Marco alle Chiuse Leonardesche is now an even more evocative and pleasant walk."
The Ponte delle Gabelle consists of a stone structure that forms the two entrance arches, one on the side of via San Marco and one facing via Melchiorre Gioia and viale Monte Grappa, and a barrel tunnel made of solid bricks. From the Bastioni di Porta Nuova which are higher up you go down to via San Marco below with a granite staircase, a corner which is still particular in Milan which is otherwise a 'flat' city which does not have these differences in height.
The Bridge constituted the historic access to Milan for those who, after the construction of the sixteenth-century Spanish walls, the Bastions, sailing along the Naviglio della Martesana, arrived in the city from the north and here had to pay the duty, or gabelle, for the boat and the transported goods.
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Updated: 02/06/2020