Via Vandelli

Via Vandelli is an historical commercial and military road, designed and built in the XVIII century by Domenico Vandelli under the reign of Francesco III d'Este between 1739 and 1752. The road connected the city of Modena with the city of Massa, in its original project of 1739. In the 50's of the XVIII century, a variant was added, connecting Sassuolo, a residence of the Duke of Ferrara and of Modena, with the existing road from Modena to Massa. After Roman roads, Via Vandelli was the first road in Europe to be designed and realized according to a project fulfilling the customer requirements and modern engineering criteria. It is also the first road to be provided with taverns, inns and staging posts.

Few years after Francesco III d'Este started ruling the Duchy of Modena and Reggio, he managed to agree the wedding between his son Ercole III d'Este and Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina, heir of the Duchy of Massa and Carrara. Joining the two Duchies, Francesco III gained again the outlet to the sea.

A safe outlet to the sea was a need for the commercial and military projects of the Este Duke. Together with the outlet a safe road was needed to connect the capital of the Duky, Modena, with the Tyrrhenian coast. The old Roman road, Via Bibulca, was ruined and not safe and no alternative roads were available on the Este territory. For this reason, Francesco III assigned the project of a new modern road to his engineer Domenico Vandelli, who had the task to design the path of the road and to direct and supervise the construction of the road.

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