The making of the Autostrada del Sole – which translates into “Sun Motorway” – is a glorious moment in the history of Italian highways. A history, it shall be noted, that includes both premieres and shames, records and disasters, framed within two one-of-a-kind events with opposite signs.

The very first highway in the world is realized in Italy, in the early 1920s,  when engineer Piero Puricelli designs a two-lanes straightaway projected from Milan towards Varese and the Lakes region. Almost an entire century separates its opening from the most sensational Italian highway failure: the collapse of the Morandi Bridge, during a summer storm in August 2018.