Calcinaia | The Lucca – Pontedera railway bridge

The Lucca – Pontedera railway was supposed to be the first section of the longer line to Saline di Volterra, but the Pontedera – Saline section was never realised.

Destruction after the bombing in ’44

The line was thus relegated to an exclusively local interest. Destroyed by Allied bombing and the retreating Nazis in the last years of the Second World War, it was largely rebuilt but never reactivated. It was officially suspended in 1958 and never restored.

The railway line project of the 1920s

The railway track is visible in places, generally overgrown by spontaneous vegetation. In the vicinity of Calcinaia, two of the six arches of the bridge over the Arno are still visible, while almost all of the former stations and part of the former toll booths are still standing. The project for the 25.3 km long line was presented in 1920 and work began in 1926. The inauguration took place in October 1928. The station and the bridge with its six arches, each 21.50 metres wide, functioned until the summer of 1944 when they were bombed by the Allies during the Second World War.

The collapsed part of the bridge was reintegrated by an iron structure designed for the purpose of supporting the water pipes that currently run across it. After the end of the war and in recent times, proposals were made several times to reactivate the railway line, but none of them ever materialised.