Navigation basin at Panperduto

Restoration of the navigation basin at Panperduto on the Ticino River

Design, work supervision and reactivation of the navigation basin on the intake works of the dam at Panperduto for the reactivation of tourist navigation on the international waterway from Locarno to Venice and for the Green-Blue ring of Expo 2015.

The project covered the restructuring of the historical navigation basin near the intake works of the dam at Panperduto, on the Ticino River which permits entrance into the Industriale and Volloresi canals which are in turn accessible thanks to two other navigation basins recently recuperated thanks to designs and work supervision by Binini Partners.

The technical and functional project for the basin is part of the reactivation program for the Navigli Lombardi, from Lake Maggiore to Milan and the Locarno – Venice waterway which connects Lake Maggiore to the Venetian lagoon passing the Ticino, the Naviglio Grande canal, the naviglio Pavese canal and the Po River.

This is an important program of requalification projects for the historical waterway infrastructure, the landscape and territories for tourist and environmental purposes started up and supported by the Lombardy regional government, the council of Milan and performed by the Consorzio Est Ticino Villoresi which manages the infrastructure.

The site has great historical and environmental importance because the intake works of Panperduto were the start of the project of the Villoresi Canal, which connects the Ticino River to the Adda for the irrigation of the Lombardy plain north of Milan. This was based on a project by Eugenio Villoresi, created between 1877 and 1890 by the Società Italiana Condotte d’Acqua, that was created especially for the purpose in 1880. It is also an enchanting location from an environmental point of view along a large meander of the Ticino River with a lot of water, woods, historic landmarks, cycle lanes, boat lanes and seat of the Italian-Swiss WaterMuseum at the feet of the Alps with the Monte Rosa in the background.

The project was in harmony with the existing area and, what’s more, it recuperated and gave value, where possible, to the original landmarks and mechanical movement components, adding the new technologies required to modernise and automatise the management and use of the navigation basin.

The basin has a length of 34 meters (25m of which are navigable) a width of 8 meters and an internal height of 3,90 m with a basinful of 1.4 m and average draught of over 2 meters.