ABSTRACT
The Grazie Bassa tunnel is one of the first railway infrastructural works (1920) carried out underground in correspondence of the oldest part of the territory of the city of Genoa, a densely urbanized area with a predominantly vertical development going up from the ancient port to the residential districts of Carignano and Castelletto.
The paper aims to summarize the transformations, both in constructive terms (“firmitas”- solidity) and in function (“utilitas”- usefulness), that characterize the history of the tunnel from its construction to today, focusing on what has happened in the last ten years in which long stretches of the old tunnel have been deeply transformed to become integrated parts of the new metro and railway tunnels. The rehabilitation works have been also a great opportunity to analyze old construction methods and to measure and analyze stress and resistance of the old masonry lining. An idea for a reuse of part of the tunnel in decorative way (“venustas” – beauty) is also mentioned.
