The Bridge of the Dialogue in Chiavenna (Italy)

The declaration Traditional design and practices for building Chinese wooden arch bridges was inscribed on the Unesco List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2009, due to the rapid urbanization, scarcity of timber and lack of available construction space, all of which combine to threaten ist transmission and survival. The traditional design and practices for building these footbridges combine the use of wood, traditional architectural tools, craftsmanship, the core technologies of "beam-weaving" and mortise and tenon joints, and an experienced woodworker's understanding of different environments and the necessary structural mechanics. The idea to build a Timber Arch Bridge in ValChiavenna, located about 100 kilometres north of Milan in Italy, is an example of cooperation between Italy and China, and aims to rediscover this antique Chinese tradition in order to connect two places in view of a pilgrimage to the Madonna of Europe. The goal of this paper is to retrace history and typology of this cultural heritage, through the design of the "Bridge of the dialogue" in Chiavenna. A final written, entitled Our Lady of Europe and the "human bridge" between religions for peace, contains some suggestions about the intrinsic meaning of this footbridge.

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