Navigli
Navigli (or in the singular Naviglio) are the names of the canals in and around Milan , which were typical until the 20th century, and their use as traffic routes contributed to the prosperity of the old Mediolanum in ancient times .
history
Milan, which rose to a metropolis in late antiquity, owed its resurgence in the early Middle Ages not least to the restoration of its ancient canal system, which began around 1000 AD. The oldest of the Milanese canals was called Vettabia (from Latin vectabilis , navigable) and dates from the time of Emperor Hadrian (but may be of older origin). The city began construction around the year 1100. Over the centuries, and as the technology of building locks improved , it became the center and distributor of an enormous network of canals whose main axes, now cut off, were the Naviglio Grande , the Naviglio Pavese and the Naviglio della Martesana . The Naviglio Grande brings water from the Ticino River, the Martesana comes from the Adda , and the Naviglio Pavese targets Pavia and the confluence of the Ticino with the Po . The shipping connection to the Adriatic was planned as early as the 15th century, but was only completed under the rule of Napoleon .
At a time when road transport was slow and arduous, such canal connections in the fertile plains provided enormous economic benefits. In addition there was the great energetic importance of the water-rich alpine rivers due to the spread of the water mill in the early Middle Ages.
The Milan Cathedral was built with marble from the Alps, which was practically brought to the construction site via Navigli: At the end of the 14th century, Gian Galeazzo Visconti had a branch canal built that led up to 250 meters to the cathedral construction site.
Under Spanish rule, the city walls of Milan were modernized until 1560 and adapted to the improved artillery technology . With the construction of the new Renaissance fortifications, the inner circuit of the Milan canal system moved behind the ring of bastions .
The so-called “artist plan” of the urban design of Milan in the Napoleonic era (1807) left the Navigli system untouched, but the canals of Milan began to decline from the founding period . The cathedral harbor had already been filled in in 1857, the vaulting of the inner canal ring began in 1877 and the main work was done in the epoch of Mussolini from 1929 to 1934, taking into account the growing individual traffic. In 1969 the bed of the ring canal was finally largely filled with cement. There was great criticism, among other things, of the destruction of the "Vicolo dei Lavandei" , the laundry corner. After all, the protests were successful in that at least some peripheral sections of the Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese and the Darsena harbor basin were preserved. Today the almost complete disappearance of the Navigli in Milan is generally lamented; However, with the advent of the railways and modern public and individual transport, they have lost their transport function, and in summer they were also a nuisance for the neighbors due to the unpleasant smell and the mosquito plague.
literature
- Luciano Zeppegno: Milano Sparita. Newton Compton, Rome 1983.
- Robert Schediwy: City Pictures. Reflections on the change in architecture and urbanism. 2nd Edition. LIT, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-8258-7755-8 (especially p. 137 ff).
