A strong bond with the locals
The Brennero motorway is one of Italy’s most important roads, as proven by its figures. Since its completion and inauguration, the vehicles driving on the motorway have kept growing; the 10,000 vehicles a day in 1974 have today become nearly 200,000 vehicles on average a day. That can mean more traffic – but the word can mean different things such as a larger number of goods, tourists, exchanges. While that is excellent news for the economy, it can also pollute the environment and cause issues for the locals. Yet the company, which still manages the 314 km between the Brennero and Modena, is special because 84.7% of its shares are held by public bodies. One region, provinces, cities, and chambers of commerce of all the areas it crosses, which are undoubtedly interested by the positive, financial effects of traffic but have never lost sight of its negative aspects, too. That’s why they’ve always implemented measures to mitigate the motorway’s growth, to respect the delicate ecosystem impacted by the motorway and rolled out activities to protect and promote the affected areas. One example? The works of art in many service stations, gateways to the surrounding landscape along the motorway. The Plessi Museum is exemplary in this regard. A former custom house turned into a service station which then became a museum – the integration par excellence of the motorway into the area it inhabits, transforming it into more than a mere foreign structure or way of getting from A to B. This proximity can be seen in cultural initiatives benefiting and protecting the locals living on the motorway’s route. These activities include support to people impacted by disasters or support given to associations active in the different locations. The Brennero motorway has been carrying out the ABC project for over ten years in cities to raise awareness about road safety in the areas it crosses. This joint project with the highway patrol officers has reached nearly 30,000 teenagers.
The Plessi Museum
The Plessi Museum, the first ever Italian museum located on a motorway, can be found on the Italian side of the Brennero Pass on the foundations of a 20th-century motorway customs house. It was inaugurated in 2013 and covers 2,500 m2. A large, crystal building, it’s covered by a spacious wood and cor-ten steel structure. The museum features a permanent exhibition of one of Italy’s most important contemporary artists, Fabrizio Plessi, consisting of audiovisual footage, sculptures, and paintings. The Plessi Museum also features a spacious cafe and market which offer a vast range of typical, South Tyrolean food and beverages. The museum was developed to host conferences revolving around Europe, which is why a purpose-built, fully equipped conference hall – which hosts conferences, cultural and institutional meetings – can be found on its premises.
The Plessi Museum’s services
The ABC project
‘ABC – l’Autostrada del Brennero in Città’ (ABC – The Brenner Motorway in the City) is a road safety education project stemming from the collaboration between Autostrada del Brennero, the Road Police and the Local Authorities of the provinces crossed through by the A22, aimed at involving and sensitizing lower and upper secondary school students. The aim of the project is to promote compliance with road traffic rules, in the belief that educating the young people of today will mean having careful and responsible drivers on the roads tomorrow.
Support
Every year, the company receives requests for contributions from different local entities working along the motorway’s route. Sports clubs, cultural associations, local governing bodies, and charities – which are all active players in the societies impacted by the motorway’s local presence – request support to finance their activities and initiatives. The requests are assessed by a Committee which examine the applicant’s trustworthiness, standing, and alignment with the company’s Code of Ethics as well the activity’s relevance. The discriminating factors are the potential benefits for the local population and the involvement of the local area, from the Brennero to Modena, in the applicant’s project. The sum of the contribution, the opportunities arising from the proposal, and any previous sum already granted also inform the Committee’s decision.
Works of art
Ever since its inception, the Autostrada del Brennero has endeavoured to create a special bond with the areas it crosses. A motorway will, one way or another, impact the landscape, which is why it attempted to mitigate this and establish a mutually beneficial relation with the surrounding areas. It did so by choosing Cor-ten steel for its guard rails and infrastructures, from overpasses to viaducts, to ensure they blended with the landscape. This endeavour was also replicated for the service stations’ works of art and furnishing, transforming a border between the motorway’s traffic and a rest area into a gateway to the surrounding area drivers can reach after the toll booth. There are currently eight service stations which feature works of art. In the north, the Klausen Groeden/Chiusa Val Gardena service station hosts South Tyrolean Peter Senoner’s “Terra vergine Galathica”. To the south, the “Tridentum” pyramids by Stefano Cagol welcome whoever takes the Trento Sud exit, while at the Rovereto Nord exit Giuliano Orsingher’s “Visioni in transito” awaits. Barbara Tamburini and Enrico Ferrari made a “Mosaico” in Rovereto Sud, paying homage to the colours of the Mart Museum and Lake Garda; “Iconema” by Giuseppe Baldi and Elena Varini – an agronomist and landscape architect respectively – embodies the hidden meaning of the landscape; in Verona Nord, Piera Legnaghi’s “Slancio Vitale” is a tribute to dynamic movement. “Sogno di un bambino” welcomes you to Nogarole Rocca, where Gabriele Gottoli painted the bond to the local area and his wish to protect it; speed and progress take centre stage in Mantova Nord in Aurelio Norder’s “Turbine”
