The Oleggio bridge crosses the Ticino towards Lonate Pozzolo and was built between 1887 and 1889. It is 187.5 metres long and has a lattice structure of the kind used in American timber bridges: it is the only surviving example of its type in Italy.
What to see
The latticework is best seen from below or from the bank, and that is where you understand how it works: superimposed trussed girders, reinforced by cover plates that multiply where bending is greatest, that is over the piers. The footways run on brackets, outside the structure.
Visiting
Traffic crosses in alternating one-way: the bridge was designed for far less traffic than today's, which has grown partly because of Malpensa airport. In 2018, after the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa, checks by the authorities ruled out any danger.
Our editors' tip
Look at the upper cross beams: they have holes in them. They were meant to anchor rails, because the design also allowed for a railway deck above the road one. In the end only the road was built, but the piers were made strong for a future that never came. It is that same open structure that saved the bridge in the war: bombs could pass through it without meeting enough material to do damage, and only a direct hit on a pier would have stopped it.
