ABSTRACT
Where does the history of structural engineering fit into the great fresco of historiography? Who is the good historian of structures? What are that historian’s sources? Are those sources “honest”? The collapse of the bridge over the Polcevera River in Genoa triggered a profound rethinking of historical research in the field of structural construction in Italy, briefly summarised in this contribution. The paper is an outcome of the Research Project SIXXI–XX Century Structural Engineering: the Italian Contribution, ERC Advanced Grant 2012, headed by Sergio Poretti and Tullia Iori from Rome Tor Vergata University.
