There are 50 days left to the inauguration of the new bridge on the Canal Grande, in accordance with the project of the architect Calatrava. Until 1850 the Canal Grande was crossed exclusively by the majestic and overly famous Rialto bridge: there were no other structures crossing the winding lagoon water-way!! In 10 years’ time the Austrians, at that time governing the city, carried out something that nobody had been able to do in many centuries of history and of debated architectonical events. Two bridges were indeed built: one in front of the train station and another one in the area of the Academy Galleries. Two iron bridges which, even if they have been later modified in their form and materials, with their presence mark definitely the city’s landscape.

For many years the question was if Venice should, or better, could have another bridge. The city’s historical tissue, so strongly characterized, did not allow any heavy integration, surely not one due to the insertion of such a work as a bridge. The extraordinary development of international tourism, associated with the constantly renewed city’s modern needs, has often drawn the attention of the world’s most famous planners on the millenary lagoon centre. But what was once a fertile land of architectonical experiences which then demonstrated to be unique and fundamental for the discipline’s development, today does not appear to identify the same old spirit: lost opportunities with Le Corbusier, Kahn, Wright, and most recently with Siza, show that the attitude in that sense is not the ideal one.

Now the opportunity offers again: there is the possibility to leave a strong but at the same time light and almost “harmless” mark in the traditional historical culture. The bridge planned for Venice by the Spanish engineer Santiago Calatrava does not want to impose itself, it just invites to the respect of the place.

The purpose to connect the arrivals area of Venice (Piazzale Roma) with the train station area is by now a necessity that cannot be postponed: to solve the problem is not easy, and it is a question in which all the personality and the skills of Calatrava once more emerge. An opportunity that cannot be wasted.