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Musmeci Bridge Ponte Musmeci
Ponte Musmeci (Potenza)
Coordinates	40°38′N 15°49′E / 40.63°N 15.81°E / 40.63; 15.81
Crosses	Basento and Potenza Centrale railway station
Locale	Potenza, Italy
Official name	Ponte dell'industria
Other name(s)	Ponte sul Basento
Heritage status	Monument of cultural interest
Characteristics
Design	Sergio Musmeci
Material	Reinforced concrete
Total length	560 m (1,837 ft)
Width	16 m (52 ft)
History
Architect	Sergio Musmeci
Constructed by	Edilstrade Forlì-Castrocaro
Construction start	1971
Construction end	1976
Construction cost	920,000,000 ITL
Opened	1976
Location

The “Viadotto dell’Industria” (Industry viaduct),^[1] also known as "Bridge over the Basento" river or Musmeci Bridge,^[2] is a bridge in Potenza, Basilicata, Italy, that connects the Potenza city center exit on the Sicignano-Potenza motorway with the main access roads in the southern part of the city.

Designed by the Italian engineer Sergio Musmeci in 1967,^[3] and built between 1971 and 1976, the bridge perfectly incarnates Musmeci's architectural theories. The structure cost about 920,000,000 Italian liras (equivalent to €4,000,000 in 2016).

The structure's uniqueness is due to its construction: it is made of only one membrane of reinforced concrete (about 30 cm (1 ft) thick) molded to form four contiguous arches.^[4] The concrete sheet is shaped into a “finger-like” structure, which supports the whole bridge, and it is also used as a pedestrian walkway. The unique structure of teh bridge has been the subject of several studies and discussions on its structure and form. ^[5]

The bridge was built without using prefabricated elements.^[4] Edilstrade Forlì-Castrocaro company constructed the bridge.

Plans and drawings of the bridge are collected in the “Musmeci Sergio and Zanini Zenaide archive” which in 1997 was declared of great historical interest by the archival superintendents of Lazio. Then in 2003, it was referred by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture as an example of architecture from the 20th century in the MAXXI (The National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome).^[6] In 2003, the bridge was declared a “monument of cultural interest” by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture.^[7]

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Cultural impact

The bridge inspired the virtuosic piano piece The Arching Path by Christopher Cerrone.^[8]

References

^ Fausto Giovannardi (2010). Sergio Musmeci. Strutture fuori dal coro (PDF) (in Italian). Giovannardierontini.
^ "Potenza - Galleria Immagini: Ponte Musmeci". APT Basilicata (in Italian). Retrieved 2015-03-11.
^ Luigi Spinelli (2007-10-17). "When infrastructure becomes landscape". Domus.
^ ^a ^b Carmela Petrizzi. "Sergio Musmeci a Potenza: il ponte e la città" (PDF). Basilicata Regione Notizie (in Italian): 17–24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2016-08-26.
^ Marmo, Francesco and Demartino, Cristoforo and Candela, Gabriele and Sulpizio, Concetta and Briseghella, Bruno and Spagnuolo, Roberto and Xiao, Yan and Vanzi, Ivo and Rosati, Luciano (2019). "On the form of the Musmeci's bridge over the Basento river". Engineering Structures. 191: 658–673. doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2019.04.069. S2CID 164766610.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "Collezioni del XX secolo - Musmeci Sergio e Zanini Zenaide". Fondazione MAXXI (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2015-11-18. Retrieved 2015-03-11.
^ "Il ponte e la città. Sergio Musmeci a Potenza". Fondazione MAXXI (in Italian). 2014-10-01. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02.
^ "The Arching Path – Christopher Cerrone". Retrieved 2024-02-09.