Toward the Light

Behind lie the ruins and hardships of the postwar years. Ahead, the light of a country preparing for its economic boom. In this image of a tunnel under construction along the Autostrada del Sole, the worksite becomes a metaphor for Italy in the 1950s: still immersed in shadow, yet already moving toward a new horizon. Opened in 1964 after just eight years of construction, the Autostrada del Sole connected Milan and Naples along a 764-kilometer route, reducing a journey that had previously taken two days to approximately eight hours. Construction was divided into more than 100 separate contracts, awarded to Italy’s leading companies, including Girola, Lodigiani and Impresit, all of which later became part of the Webuild Group. Bridges, viaducts and tunnels crossed mountains and valleys, transforming the geography of travel and bringing northern and southern Italy closer together. More than a motorway, the Autosole became the symbol of a country that had set its energies in motion once again and was building, meter by meter, its road toward the future.

Facts & Figures

Autostrada del Sole – A1: 764 kilometers from Milan to Naples

Construction period: Eight years, from 1956 to 1964

Works: More than 100 contracts awarded to Italy’s leading construction companies, including Girola, Lodigiani and Impresit, now part of the Webuild Group

The Autosole in numbers: 113 bridges and viaducts, 572 overpasses, 38 tunnels, 57 interchanges and 15 million working days required to complete the project

An engineering masterpiece: In 1964, several of its viaducts were featured at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in the exhibition Twentieth Century Engineering, dedicated to the most important engineering achievements of the twentieth century