Destroyed many times by the fury of the river or man, it has always been rebuilt according to the techniques and the project of Palladio in 1569, who solved in an ingenious and highly scenic way the passage over the river Brenta on which there were previous artifacts of the thirteenth century.
The first testimonies on the bridge of Bassano date back to 1124 and 1209. In this interval of time it became necessary to build a bridge connecting the two banks of the Brenta for economic, social and military reasons. Over the centuries it was damaged and destroyed several times by the waters of the river and by men. Between the thirteenth and fourteenth century the bridge was the object of contention with the people of Vicenza. In 1450 the bridge was rebuilt but at the end of the century it was already in bad conditions. In 1510 it was set on fire by the retreating French army and was rebuilt only in 1522. In 1524 it was rebuilt in stone and in 1531 in wood. The latter was swept away by a flood in 1567, the project of the next bridge was entrusted to Andrea Palladio. His bridge resisted until the middle of the eighteenth century. Again destroyed by the waters of the river was rebuilt in 1750 by Bartolomeo Ferracina. From 1796 to 1813 the district of Bassano and the Venetian territory were crossed and sacked during six military campaigns. During the last two (1809, 1813) the bridge was damaged and destroyed. Rebuilt between 1819 and 1821, it resisted until 1945 when it was bombed by the Allies to damage the traffic of the Germans. The last intervention was made by the Alpini in 1948. During the flood of 1966 it was damaged and in the following years it was dismantled and strengthened. Since 1990, consolidation and restoration works have been carried out periodically.
