The Old Covered Bridge – Snapping The Globe

Why did the pedestrian cross the river?

To check out the beautiful covered bridge.

Okay, so that’s not how the old joke goes, but when one sees a beautiful covered bridge, one must absolutely take a walk to the other side!

Having decided to take some side trips from Milan lately, I ventured out to the town of Pavia on the advice of a friend. Marking a few items of interest on my map, the first one I wanted to see was the Ponte Coperto (the Covered Bridge), also called the Ponte Vecchio (the Old Bridge).

The structure is a brick and stone arch bridge which crosses the Ticino River and replaces the previous medieval bridge, dating from 1354 (with an even older Roman one preceding it). When the previous bridge was damaged during the war in 1945, repair was considered until the structure partially collapsed a couple of years later.

The new bridge’s design was based on the previous bridge and was begun in 1949, incorporating one difference and one similarity. The previous bridge contained seven arches and the current one contains only five, however, like its predecessor, it contains a chapel in the center.

The Ponte Coperto connects the suburbs, the traditional place of washerwomen, gravel quarrymen and fisherman, to the city’s center and there were many pedestrians crossing the bridge as I made my way to the other side.

Peeking inside the chapel at the altar, devoted to St. Giovanni Nepomuceno, patron of drowned men, I also paid particular attention to the vaulted wood ceiling above. In the center of the bridge, I stopped to examine the remains of the ancient Roman bridge ruins which sit in the rushing water of the Ticino.