Tommaso Meduna (1798–1880), knight of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, was an Italian engineer.[1]

Meduna's design of the first railway bridge connecting Venice with the mainland

Biography edit

He was the son of Venetian carpenter and window maker Andrea Meduna and a descendant of the Meduna family.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

He projected and built (with modifications by Luigi Duodo and Giovanni Milani) the first railway bridge between Venice and the mainland (1836–1841). The Venice–Mestre causeway is now part of the Ponte della Libertà.[9][10][11]

During his career, he often collaborated with his brother, architect Giovanni Battista Meduna (1800–1886), including in the reconstruction the Gran Teatro La Fenice, destroyed by the fire of 1836, and the Teatro Comunale Alighieri in Ravenna (1840–1852).[12][13]

Meduna held positions as Senior Engineer 1st Class and Director of the Provincial Office of Public Buildings (at the Palazzo Loredan in Campo Santo Stefano) and Chief 1st Class in the Royal Corps of Civil Engineers.[14][1]

He was the chief engineer for the Provincia during the restoration of the Fondaco dei Turchi.[11]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Ordine dei Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro (1870). Elenco alfabetico dei decorati dell'Ordine dei SS. Maurizio e Lazzaro dal 17 marzo 1861 (proclamazione del Regno d'Italia) al 31 dicembre 1869 (in Italian). Stamperia Reale. p. 113.
  2. ^ Fontana, Vincenzo. San Marco Biedermeier (1820-1853) (in Italian). p. 5.
  3. ^ Ottin, L. (1896). Le vitrail: son histoire, ses manifestations à travers les âges et les peuples (in French). Librairie Renouard. p. 343.
  4. ^ Guida per la città di Venezia all'amico delle belle arti opera di Giannantonio Moschini (in Italian). Vol. 1. 1815. p. 142.
  5. ^ Cantù, Cesare (1856). Scorsa di un Lombardo negli archivj di Venezia (in Italian). Civelli. p. 160.
  6. ^ Guida Commerciale (in Italian). Presso Giuseppe Orlandelli. 1847. pp. 112, 273, 347, 350.
  7. ^ Handels- und Gewerbs-Schematismus von Wien und dessen nächster Umgebung (in German). Kaulfuß Wtw. 1854. p. 623.
  8. ^ Guida per la citt A a di Venezia all'amico delle belle arti opera di Giannantonio Moschini. Volume 1. Parte 1. [-volume 2. Parte 2.]: 1 (in Italian). 1815. p. 602.
  9. ^ Barbieri, A.; Chiaradia, V.; Di Tommaso, A. (2004). Roca, P.; Oñate, E. (eds.). Railway Masonry Arch Bridge of Venice Lagoon: History, Technology and Structural Behaviour (PDF). Barcelona: Arch Bridges, ARCH´04. CIMNE. pp. 3–4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-12-10.
  10. ^ Cattaneo, Carlo (2014). Primi studi dell'ingegnere Tomaso [sic!] Meduna (in Italian). Edizioni La Biblioteca Digitale. Archived from the original on 2023-03-18.
  11. ^ a b Pertot, Gianfranco (2004). Venice: Extraordinary Maintenance. Paul Holberton. p. 229.
  12. ^ Meduna, Tommaso; Meduna, Giovanni Battista (1849). Il Teatro la Fenice in Venezia edificato dallÁrchitetto Antonio Selva nel 1792 e ricostruito in parte in 1836 (in Italian). Stabilimento Antonelli.
  13. ^ "Teatro Comunale Alighieri, Ravenna". Italia.it. Archived from the original on 2023-09-20.
  14. ^ Nuova Guida commerciale della città di Venezia (in Italian). Longo. 1857. pp. 111, 193, 316.