Calcinaia | The Medici Trabocco in Fornacette

In certain periods of the year, the Arno poses a threatening danger to its plain. In centuries past, to protect Pisa from potential floods, the “Trabocco d’Arno” was constructed—a drainage canal that was opened near Fornacette to divert the river waters towards the countryside.

Supported by the hydraulic engineer Alessandro Degli Albizi, the Trabocco was constructed in 1568 under Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany. It was built immediately after the outlets of Putignano (near Pisa) with the purpose of channeling the waters of the Arno into the Livorno pond through two wide and deep ditches, which are now adjacent to the road number 67 Bis known as Arnaccio

The Trabocco was a massive empty channel located under Fornacette, into which the floodwaters of the Arno were directed by breaching the banks near Madonna dell’Acqua (north of Pisa). Today, a long bridge with thirty-one arches remains, now reduced to a series of warehouses, over which carts would pass when the bank was breached and water filled the channel.

One of the last uses of the Trabocco dates back to 1761 when the embankments were breached, and the channel bed was sold and filled for increasingly flourishing cultivations. The Trabocco remained active for 197 years.

Despite the fact that the Trabocco saved Pisa from many floods, it fell into disuse. The route of this ancient drainage channel was too long, and the muddy waters deposited sand along the canal, raising its bottom. In 1761, the Trabocco was used for the last time, and then the channel was buried and transformed into a road.

What remains of the Trabocco? A significant portion of the 31 arches is still visible in the garden of Cottolengo in Fornacette on Via Toscoromagnola, as well as the road that ran above it. Other sections of the structure have been incorporated into residential buildings and warehouses. To enhance the structure, the Municipality of Calcinaia has placed an informative sign in front of the Cottolengo.