The Naviglio di Paderno is an artificial canal that flows parallel to the River Adda in the municipality of  Paderno d’Adda northwest of Milan.

This Naviglio di Paderno is 2,605 metres long; 11 metres wide on the bottom; the water is always kept at a depth of 1.20 metres, there is a minimum gradient of  0.10 and a maximum of 0.45 every thousand metres so that the speed per second is a minimum of 0.31 and a maximum of 1.50.

The gradient is divided into 26.40 metre sections between the supports and 1.10 metres between the margins of the bottom. The slope is distributed for 26,40 metres onto the supports and for 1.10 metres as the bottom slope. (C. Cantù, Grande illustrazione del Lombardo Veneto, Milano, 1857).

Identity card:

Year of birth: 1777

Length: 2.9 km

Start: Robbiate

End: Cornate d’Adda

History:
The Naviglio di Paderno, which like the Bereguardo canal does not reach Milan, was a product of the genius of Leonardo da Vinci who in the early 16th century was a guest of Count Melzi in Vaprio d'Adda. The shortest of the Navigli canals, it is also the most complex with a change in level of 27.5 m thanks to a series of six locks.

It was intended to finally make it possible to travel by boat from the city to Lake Como which would then be linked to the inner canal ring via the Martesana canal. Work began under Francesco Sforza I in 1516, but the project was only finished almost three centuries later under Marie Therese of Austria and finally inaugurated in 1777.

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PHOTOS FROM BOOK: Cornate d'Adda. Acqua, roccia, energia (Missaglia, Bellavite, 2018)
Credits PH: Mario Donadoni