As of: March 16, 2024, 12:13 p.m
By: Johannes Welte
Comments
Press
Split
This cycle path was undermined and washed away by floodwaters from the Staffora River.
© Carlo Giani/Facebook
Severe storms hit northern Italy.
A popular cycle path near Milan was washed out.
That could have ended badly.
Voghera – The small town of Voghera, crowned by churches and a Visconti castle, is located 60 kilometers south of Milan in the vineyards of Oltrepò Pavese.
The best wines in Lombardy are made here.
On the route of a railway line that was closed in the 1960s, one of the most popular and best developed cycle paths in the Italian region leads along the Staffora mountain river from Voghera south into the mountains of the Apennines.
Cycle path through idyllic wine region in Italy falls victim to severe flooding
The 32-kilometer-long cycle path, which opened in 2021, to the idyllic mountain town of Varzi is particularly popular with Milanese people on weekends. After the railway line, you can continue on into the mountains of the Apennines if you like and are fit.
But at the moment it's not possible here on the “Greenway Voghera - Varzi”.
nothing.
Directly on the banks of the Staffora, the asphalt surface suddenly ends in nothingness near the village of Bagnaria.
The abyss yawns beneath the broken asphalt, and the raging river rages far below.
A sewer pipe and a cable that were originally laid under the asphalt hang lost in the air, and more soil is in danger of breaking off.
Storm in Italy washes away road: If the bike path had been used, the collapse could have ended tragically
What would have happened was unthinkable if there had been cyclists or walkers in this section of the route at the time of the demolition.
However, nothing is known about victims.
However, there is still a danger to life at the demolition site.
The cycle path is interrupted until further notice.
The weekend's storm caused further damage in the area: in Voghera itself, a bridge had to be closed, and a section of provincial road 33 was closed to traffic due to flooding.
Another landslide blocked Provincial Road 155 in Oltrepò.
A week earlier, the whole of Italy was affected by storms.
In South Tyrol last weekend, an avalanche almost hit participants in a biathlon competition.
In Sicily, the Scirocco wind fanned violent forest fires.