The problem of drought seems to have been overcome for now and the sign “Service suspended due to insufficient river current” can be thrown away. And now the service issue is also about to be resolved, so much so that — after two years of anchoring on the waters of the Adda — Leonardo’s historic ferry between Villa d’Adda and Imbersago will be able to detach itself from the bank to connect the two banks of the river, restoring a service that has existed at that point for a long time five centuries.
«We are on the home stretch, we should start again in early July», he assures the mayor of Imbersago Fabio Vergani. The ferry built on the basis of principles studied by Leonardo da Vinci started having problems when the drought of summer 2022 had exhausted the Adda current to such an extent that it did not allow the functioning of the simple mechanism that moves the boat along the cable stretched between the two banks. In a year the ferry had only crossed the Adda for a month and a half, while until Covid it was also routinely used by motorists to avoid the journey up to Paderno. He had even talked about it New York Times, who had elected him as a symbol of the drought emergency. Then the contract with the managers also expired, who had decided to give up to dedicate themselves to other navigation services on Lake Como and had not returned.
The Municipality had tried to launch a series of tenders to find new managers at a rent of 4,500 euros for five years, but they were deserted one after the other. Last October it seemed that the problem had been solved thanks to the interest of Paso di Paderno social cooperative, but the negotiations dragged on for months, during which the ferry’s ropes and mast tensioners were replaced and the cabin and seats were repainted. This led to the conclusion that is expected in these days, with a direct assignment without a concession fee. It is expected that the coop will not be limited to navigation, but will also manage other servicessuch as bicycle rental for those who want to travel the spectacular Adda towpath and the creation of a refreshment point.
Also complicating finding a manager was the fact that he needed to operate the ferry you need a boatman’s license and registration in the register of boat drivers, for which at least six months of boarding is required. The cooperative has found a licensed boatman who, in addition to operating the ferry, will train four people from disabled placement (the coop mainly deals with fragile subjects), who will then move on to take care of the service directly. “We could start by restoring the service on weekends – concludes the mayor -, but we can then think about extending it over several days, at least in the summer months, given that it has represented a strong attraction for tourists”.
