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Hi folks - yet another Italian adventure to share with my forum friends accompanied by my usual, totally optional, pre-visual dribbling intro....
I've spent a good part of the past 5 months roaming around northern Italy at the weekends snapping away with my camera like a demented tourist. A lot of my photos have included shots of bridges, old and new, in villages, towns and cities, and these structures have had one thing in common. They were all man-made. This past weekend, however, I took a trip to yet another bridge but this time a natural one, in fact the largest natural bridge in Europe, Ponte di Veja (or Veia), situated in the National Park of Lessinia, 20 miles north west of the city of Verona and just 20 mins, drive from my temporary home.
Ponte di Veja is a rock formation, thought to have formed millions of years ago as the result of a karstic cavern* collapse at the head of a limestone valley. The bridge comprises of an immense slab of marble resting on two limestone pillars. Its height varies from 80 - 95 ft, from its base which is around 200 ft above the base of the valley. The arch thickness varies from 27 - 35 ft, the length from one pillar base to the other from 120 - 150 ft, and the width of the bridge slab from 50 - 65 feet. Yep, it's big!
A small stream trickles under the bridge arch and drops vertically as a cascade to the floor of the valley below which stems from the bridge running north. A number of caves, all closed to the public, strike off from the pillars and surrounding rock formations, some of which have been found to contain prehistoric artifacts such as cave drawings and flint tools. The caves are also home to large colonies of bats as well as some unique animal and fauna species which are only found in this cave system. In the past the bridge was used by farmers but these days it is closed to vehicular transport and forms a walkway from a nearby parking area to a walking trail running about 3 miles northwards up the valley.
My photos don't do justice to the size of this natural formation and as I took them early on a wintery morning the sun was too low in the sky to penetrate most of the valley so a little post processing was necessary to improve the colours but hopefully my shots will give a reasonable impression of this majestic natural formation.
Ref the black and white image - just me playing
See my colour photos of Ponte di Veja by clicking on this
Web Gallery Link
Navigating my web galleries.
After choosing a gallery click on any thumbnail to view a larger image.Do not use the default slide show option, instead click again on the larger image and then navigate the slide show by moving your mouse to either the centre left or right edge of the new image at which point a blue navigation arrow will appear.
I've spent a good part of the past 5 months roaming around northern Italy at the weekends snapping away with my camera like a demented tourist. A lot of my photos have included shots of bridges, old and new, in villages, towns and cities, and these structures have had one thing in common. They were all man-made. This past weekend, however, I took a trip to yet another bridge but this time a natural one, in fact the largest natural bridge in Europe, Ponte di Veja (or Veia), situated in the National Park of Lessinia, 20 miles north west of the city of Verona and just 20 mins, drive from my temporary home.
Ponte di Veja is a rock formation, thought to have formed millions of years ago as the result of a karstic cavern* collapse at the head of a limestone valley. The bridge comprises of an immense slab of marble resting on two limestone pillars. Its height varies from 80 - 95 ft, from its base which is around 200 ft above the base of the valley. The arch thickness varies from 27 - 35 ft, the length from one pillar base to the other from 120 - 150 ft, and the width of the bridge slab from 50 - 65 feet. Yep, it's big!
A small stream trickles under the bridge arch and drops vertically as a cascade to the floor of the valley below which stems from the bridge running north. A number of caves, all closed to the public, strike off from the pillars and surrounding rock formations, some of which have been found to contain prehistoric artifacts such as cave drawings and flint tools. The caves are also home to large colonies of bats as well as some unique animal and fauna species which are only found in this cave system. In the past the bridge was used by farmers but these days it is closed to vehicular transport and forms a walkway from a nearby parking area to a walking trail running about 3 miles northwards up the valley.
My photos don't do justice to the size of this natural formation and as I took them early on a wintery morning the sun was too low in the sky to penetrate most of the valley so a little post processing was necessary to improve the colours but hopefully my shots will give a reasonable impression of this majestic natural formation.
Ref the black and white image - just me playing
See my colour photos of Ponte di Veja by clicking on this
Web Gallery Link
Navigating my web galleries.
After choosing a gallery click on any thumbnail to view a larger image.Do not use the default slide show option, instead click again on the larger image and then navigate the slide show by moving your mouse to either the centre left or right edge of the new image at which point a blue navigation arrow will appear.
Footnote for non-geologists *A karstic cavern is thought to be formed by water enriched in carbon dioxide acting as a weak acid which, after penetrating cracks in normally impervious limestone caused by teutonic plate movement, gradually dissolves away the underlying rock through which it seeps or flows.
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