Collegamento pedonale al baluardo di San Giovanni delle mura veneziane | PBeB-Paolo Belloni Architetti

The project involves the construction of a pedestrian connection between the San Giovanni Bastion of Bergamo’s Venetian Walls and Via Tre Armi. This link, an important access point to the Upper Town (Città Alta), offers a route of historical and landscape discovery, allowing visitors to explore a previously inaccessible section while enhancing the interior of the bastion.
Located within the boundaries of the Parco dei Colli, whose network of paths aims to create active connections while highlighting the unique character of each place, the project seeks to strengthen the relationship between the historic city enclosed by the Walls and the surrounding landscape. This passage between the inside and outside of the historic fortification gains further significance following the recent recognition of Bergamo’s Venetian defensive system as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The project is composed of three simple elements: the pedestrian path, the boundary element separating the route from the adjacent private property, and the paving system.
The boundary structure consists of natural steel profiles alternating with a metal mesh that retains the soil and encourages the growth of micro-vegetation. The steel profiles follow a continuous alignment made up of two straight segments connected by a curve, harmonizing with the grass-covered base of the Venetian Walls. The pathway is paved with steel elements similar to those used in the boundary structure and characterized by vegetated joints. Its width varies in response to the sinuous geometry of the wall’s base. The connection to Via Tre Armi is resolved through five stone block steps that compensate for the change in elevation.