Reclamation of the Ancient Salt Pans and Birth of the Teresiana
The area of the ancient salt pans, to the west of the walls of the medieval city, demolished by order of the empress Maria Teresa d'Austria in 1749, began to be reclaimed as early as the beginning of the XVIII century.
The project for its total infilling materialized in the middle of the 1700s, when the sovereign ceded to the Municipality of Trieste the land on which to erect the future city which, in her honor, was called "Teresiana".
The Three Original Canals
The vast marshy terrain, in its section facing the sea, was crossed at the time by three canals of different widths:
- One, called del Vino or Piccolo, about a hundred meters long and infilled for hygienic reasons in 1816, extended into Piazza della Borsa pushing up to the heart of Piazza Vecchia through the current Portizza.
- A medium one, corresponding approximately to the current canal that from the church of S. Antonio Nuovo led to the sea and which received the waters of two torrents.
- Finally a third, shorter than the other two.
All three of these canals were accessible to small coastal navigation in service of the salt pans.
Widening of the Canal Grande
When it was decided to reclaim the area, to allow the city to expand territorially by virtue of its demographic growth, the project to infill the smallest one was considered, instead widening the medium one, making it navigable for vessels of greater tonnage and also preserving that of the Vino for smaller boats.
By order of Maria Teresa, on 14 October 1756, the Canal Grande, the only one, in fact, remaining, was widened and equipped with walled banks under the direction of the arch. Matteo Pirona at the cost of 90.000 florins.
Initially, trees were planted along the banks, later removed for probable practical reasons, hindering, with their presence, mooring operations as well as loading and unloading of ships.
28.4 meters wide, the watercourse was crossed by two movable iron bridges:
- The so-called Ponte Verde, at the mouth of the canal, positioned in 1858.
- The more famous Ponte Rosso, which connected the homonymous square with the then Via delle Poste, placed in 1831 and executed in the workshops of the brothers Strudthoff in replacement of a wooden one of red color precisely.
The enormous quantity of earth obtained from the widening of the canal served instead as a base for an embankment used for small commercial exchanges near the bridge.
It was precisely that embankment that transformed into the future Piazza del Ponte Rosso.
Formation and Development of the Square
The space was regularized and conceived in its architectural forms by Gianantonio Tognana already in 1776, deriving its name precisely from the color of the bridge that constituted the obligatory passage between the old city and the new one.
Its strategic position, facing the ships' landing point and at the crossroads of important communication routes, made the square one of the most dynamic meeting points from a commercial and mercantile point of view, soon becoming the site of a lively fruit and vegetable market.
Piazza del Ponterosso was, since its initial creation, a large quadrangular square surrounded by numerous buildings of great architectural value, whose first cadastral registrations date back to 1789.
Cut in half by the current Via Roma, the space features on the northern side a three-spout fountain representing a cliff on whose summit rests a river genius.
The work dates back to 1751 based on a design by the sculptor Francesco Mazzoleni, creator of the fountain of the Quattro Continenti of Piazza Unità d'Italia.
Familiarly known as the fountain of "Giovanin", in honor of the little putto that surmounts it, the fountain drew water directly from the Teresian aqueduct built by the empress in the middle of the 1700s by channeling the waters coming from the heights of S. Giovanni.
Adorning the square were not only the fountain of the Puttino, but also a kiosk in masonry and iron intended to house a guard corps and some public toilets in decorated cast iron.
Regulation and Changes Over Time
The regulation of the district of the Canal Grande dates back to 1821, when the Office of Civic Buildings approved the paving project of the area.
The pavement, in large blocks of masegno, was arranged in a herringbone pattern in the central area, running along the roadbed of the streets.
The structure of the square remained unchanged in its substance until the middle of the XX century.
During the upheaval of road traffic in the '50s, the ancient pavement was, in fact, covered with a layer of asphalt. The opportunity was then taken to bury the sanitary facilities.
Notable Buildings
On the square, some of the most elegant Triestine buildings are displayed:
- The monumental headquarters of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, established since 1928 in the building constructed for the merchant Alessandro Genel in 1873.
- The buildings located at the corners with Via Roma:
- At civic number 3, the palace work of A. Bacicchi, dating back to 1882.
- At civic number 4, the building known by the name of casa Allodi with its original octagonal turret dating back to 1913, designed by the arch. O. Sonetti and which hosted, during the Thirties, the Hotel Centrale.