Ivan Gualtieri
Gleno dam
1 December 1923 - 1 December 2023, the tragedy of the Gleno dam.
Last October I took this photo, the left stump of the artificial dam, unaware of the fact that exactly 100 years earlier this dam had been completed.
In a few days, however, the centenary of its collapse and the tragedy that followed: destruction and death.
I report in full what is written on the information panels near the dam, a summary of what happened.
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The need for energy in a context of extreme scarcity leads the Galeazzo Vigano' company based in Ponte Albiate di Triuggio (Milan), to run its own cotton factories, to build its own hydroelectric plant by creating a dam along the course of the Povo stream , near the Gleno plain located at an altitude of 1500 metres.
In January 1917 the Vigano' company was authorized to derive water from the Povo torrent with an artificial dam and to exploit the Gleno basin whose capacity of 3,900,000 cubic meters was foreseen in the preliminary project signed by the engineer. Gmür of Bergamo.
In the years 1917-18 the same company started the infrastructures that the great hydraulic engineering work required such as the road for access to the workers, the cableway and the tracks for the supply of materials from the bottom. Valley.
In May 1919, the executive project signed by the same technician was deposited with the Civil Engineers which envisages the construction of a gravity-type dam, in hydraulic lime masonry with a thickness of 30 m, a length of 250 m and a height of 50 meters (approximately), resulting in a reservoir of 5,000,000 cubic meters of water.
In July 1919, excavation work began in the rock to support the dam and continued with the foundation and masonry works. In September 1920, the dam reached a height of 18 metres. In August 1920 Eng. G.B. Santangelo of Palermo replaces Eng. Gmür deceased.
In March 1921 the Civil Engineers approved the May 1919 project.
In July 1921, when the structure reached a height of 21.50 metres, the construction typology was completely changed, opting for the arched one with the consequent abandonment of the initial gravity one.
In November 1921, the Civil Engineers approved the project for the variation of the dam but in June 1922 the Ministry warned the Vigano company to carry out the works and ordered it to immediately present the projects for the variation of the construction system with further details and checks; this happens in February 1923.
May 1923, the dam advances and there are still about ten meters of height left before its completion.
22 October 1923, following heavy rains, the reservoir filled completely for the first time and the abundant water losses in the structure greatly worried the inhabitants of the villages below and the Civil Engineering technicians. 1 December 1923 at 7.15am. Its tragic collapse is the inevitable cause of death, destruction and desolation in the Scalve Valley and Camonica Valley.
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Other information material:
Gleno dam
1 December 1923 - 1 December 2023, the tragedy of the Gleno dam.
Last October I took this photo, the left stump of the artificial dam, unaware of the fact that exactly 100 years earlier this dam had been completed.
In a few days, however, the centenary of its collapse and the tragedy that followed: destruction and death.
I report in full what is written on the information panels near the dam, a summary of what happened.
-------------------------------------------------- --
The need for energy in a context of extreme scarcity leads the Galeazzo Vigano' company based in Ponte Albiate di Triuggio (Milan), to run its own cotton factories, to build its own hydroelectric plant by creating a dam along the course of the Povo stream , near the Gleno plain located at an altitude of 1500 metres.
In January 1917 the Vigano' company was authorized to derive water from the Povo torrent with an artificial dam and to exploit the Gleno basin whose capacity of 3,900,000 cubic meters was foreseen in the preliminary project signed by the engineer. Gmür of Bergamo.
In the years 1917-18 the same company started the infrastructures that the great hydraulic engineering work required such as the road for access to the workers, the cableway and the tracks for the supply of materials from the bottom. Valley.
In May 1919, the executive project signed by the same technician was deposited with the Civil Engineers which envisages the construction of a gravity-type dam, in hydraulic lime masonry with a thickness of 30 m, a length of 250 m and a height of 50 meters (approximately), resulting in a reservoir of 5,000,000 cubic meters of water.
In July 1919, excavation work began in the rock to support the dam and continued with the foundation and masonry works. In September 1920, the dam reached a height of 18 metres. In August 1920 Eng. G.B. Santangelo of Palermo replaces Eng. Gmür deceased.
In March 1921 the Civil Engineers approved the May 1919 project.
In July 1921, when the structure reached a height of 21.50 metres, the construction typology was completely changed, opting for the arched one with the consequent abandonment of the initial gravity one.
In November 1921, the Civil Engineers approved the project for the variation of the dam but in June 1922 the Ministry warned the Vigano company to carry out the works and ordered it to immediately present the projects for the variation of the construction system with further details and checks; this happens in February 1923.
May 1923, the dam advances and there are still about ten meters of height left before its completion.
22 October 1923, following heavy rains, the reservoir filled completely for the first time and the abundant water losses in the structure greatly worried the inhabitants of the villages below and the Civil Engineering technicians. 1 December 1923 at 7.15am. Its tragic collapse is the inevitable cause of death, destruction and desolation in the Scalve Valley and Camonica Valley.
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Other information material: