Ricostruire l’Italia distrutta dalla guerra: Emergency Engineering (1943-1952)/ Italy Rebuilds in the Aftermath of World War II: Emergency Engineering (1943-1952)”

The War that lead to the Liberation of Italy was fought to regain territory inch by inch. The road and rail networks were strategic objectives for both sides: the troops who were retreating and those who were advancing. Thousands of bridges were damaged and destroyed, tons of iron, bricks and concrete collapsed into the rivers. The “first aid” given to the structures, led by the Allied Corps of Engineers, was based on salvaging what could be saved. With improvisation, intuition and courage the “standard” procedures of American manuals combined forces with the experience of the Italian artisans. “Surgical” interventions were made on the structures that had been bombed or blown up: hoisting, cleaning up, and rendering unusual combinations of materials and structural schemes. The cross-fertilization between American methods and Italian practice, was witness by new words soon established in the Sappers language, (such as “structuring” and “centering”). The Reconstruction, that followed after a few months supported by US aids was an unprecedented feat for Italian engineers and construction companies. There were cost constraints (funds still came through the Allied Military Government), shortage of plant and equipment, comply with “stringent aesthetic criteria” to rebuild the cities and their bridges; cement was the only material for which the Allied Government could ensures supplies. These were the conditions surrounding the “counterbalanced” beams used by Morandi over the river Liri, and for the Maillart arches by Carè and Giannelli over the rivers Nera and Frigido, the “steelless vaults” by Cestelli Guidi over the river Arno and the “rotating semiarches” by Krall over the river Calore, the two low-rise arches in reinforced concrete to “provide a city frame in harmony with monuments” of Firenze and Pisa. [This research is conducted in the framework of the research project “SIXXI - XX Century Strucural Engineering: the italian contribution”, thanks to ERC (P.I. Sergio Poretti, Tullia Iori)].