Bereguardo Canal

Bereguardo Canal, Italian Naviglio di Bereguardo, historic canal in Lombardy, Italy, the first canal in Europe to use a series of pound locks (locks with gates at both ends) to overcome a large change in elevation. The Bereguardo Canal was one of a series of canals built around Milan in the 15th century that resulted in important improvements in lock design. A single lock (also known as a staunch lock) with vertically lifting gates had been built in 1438 on the Naviglio Grande, a water-supply canal also used for carrying stone for building the cathedral of Milan. When Bertola da Novate became ducal engineer to Milan in 1451, he was asked to construct a canal link with Pavia. His canal, from Abbiategrasso on the existing Naviglio Grande to Bereguardo, terminated just short of the Ticino River when he stopped in 1458; thus, goods had to be ported a short distance to complete a journey from Milan to Pavia. The Bereguardo Canal was 19 km (12 miles) long and had a fall of 24 metres (80 feet), a difference in elevation overcome by 18 locks. Following the construction of more modern canals in the 19th century, the Bereguardo Canal was relegated to irrigation duties.

Bertola also built the Martesana Canal to the Adda River east of Milan. Opened in 1470, it had two locks and the earliest known canal aqueduct.

When Leonardo da Vinci became ducal engineer in 1482, he reconstructed the Naviglio Grande, on which he built six locks. The lock at San Marco, completed in 1497, had vertically hinged mitre gates, the first use of this important development, which improves the seal created by the gates when closed, thus keeping water usage to a minimum.