Italian bridge

The Italian Bridge is located in the center of Saint Petersburg, near Nevsky Prospect. It is a continuation of Italian Street and crosses the Griboedov Canal, connecting Spassky Island with Kazansky Island. Nearby are famous city landmarks: the Church of the Savior on Blood, the Zoshchenko Museum-Apartment, and the Mikhailovsky Theatre.

The Italian Bridge got its name from the palace of the same name, built in Petersburg in the early 18th century. The palace was intended for balls, assemblies, and other entertaining events for members of the aristocracy. The street located nearby was called Bolshaya Italianskaya (Great Italian Street), and later simply Italian Street. At the place where the bridge was later built, it was possible to cross the canal by yalik — a small two-oar boat.

The crossing project was proposed by a young ambitious engineer named Kolpitsyn. He really wanted the city’s residents to be able to walk across the canal on a bridge rather than by boat. Although the City Administration did not support the project, he began construction at his own expense. Thus, in 1896, as a continuation of Italian Street, the craftsman built a wooden bridge consisting of a single span.

He used the canal walls, faced with granite, as supports. The span structure consisted of ten diagonal wooden trusses, and the decking was made of xylolite tiles. For convenient passage of vessels, the bridge was raised 1.5 meters above the embankment level, and stairs were installed at the entrances. The construction cost was 3,000 rubles, but the city refused to reimburse the engineer for the expenses. Moreover, the authorities did not allow charging a toll for crossing the bridge, even a symbolic one of 1 kopeck. As a result, Kolpitsyn was forced to transfer the crossing to the city free of charge.

In 1902, according to Bald’s project, builders replaced the xylolite covering of the bridge with a deck made of wide and massive boards. Ten years later, the crossing underwent major repairs, with wooden pile supports installed and the support system replaced with a strut system.

The next reconstruction took place in 1937 during the laying of heating pipes and electrical networks in Petersburg. The Italian Bridge was completely rebuilt and began to serve as both a bridge and a heat pipeline simultaneously. Its length was 18 meters, and its width just over 2 meters.

By 1955, the crossing was in a state of disrepair and required renovation. Engineers A. Gutsait and Vasilkovsky developed a project for a metal bridge in the style of Stalin-era classicism. The heating pipes were placed under the deck, and the canal embankment walls, also renovated, were again used as supports. The length of the crossing increased to 21 meters, and the width to 3 meters. The supports were decorated with torcheres with bright lamps, and the railing sections featured capitals shaped like buds. The bridge fit well into the architectural appearance of the area, and in 2002, after the installation of lighting, it became even more attractive.

The Italian Bridge, intended only for pedestrians, is a single-span beam system. It rests on granite walls of the Griboedov Canal embankments, and the load-bearing elements are two curved beams.

The parapet sections are cast from cast iron and decorated with applied decorative elements: swords and shields with five-pointed Soviet stars. At the entrances, granite pedestals with torcheres are installed, to which artistic octagonal lamps in the style of Russian classicism are attached.

Tourists constantly stroll through the center of Saint Petersburg, so the elegant bridge, recognized as a cultural heritage site of the country, does not go unnoticed. In addition, it offers a wonderful view of the Church of the Savior on Blood — a church with multicolored domes and extraordinary mosaics.

Thanks to its favorable location and architectural solutions, the bridge was captured during the filming of the movie "The Adventures of Italians in Russia." It can be seen in the episode where, during excavations, supposedly nearby lion sculptures collapse. In reality, the statues depicted in the film did not exist.

There is a legend that every year on March 1, the silhouette of a girl with a scar on her neck and a white handkerchief in her hand appears on the bridge — it was by waving the handkerchief that Perovskaya gave the signal to the bombers on March 1, 1881. And on April 15, she, along with other Narodnaya Volya conspirators, was hanged on the parade ground of the Semenovsky Regiment.

Sources:

https://tury.club/sight/italyanskiy-most-4993

https://mos-holidays.ru/spb/mosty/italyanskij-most/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Итальянский_мост