Church bells tolled and fog horns blared as the central piece of the new bridge was hoisted into position above now-abandoned homes and businesses lining the dry Polcevera riverbed.
The installation of the final segment marked the completion of structural work to reunite two sides of Genoa, but the bridge won’t reopen for another few months.
Conte made a rare outing from Rome to attend the ceremony, following stops on Monday in Lombardy, the region hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic.
Conte said the completion of the bridge “sutures a wound, reconnecting a fundamental artery to the centre and heart of this community and city”.
He said the new bridge also provides an image of Italian strength and ingenuity in the face of tragedy that can serve as a model as Italy struggles to emerge from the tragedy of the pandemic.
“Today, with this light from Genoa, we are giving a new face to all of Italy,” Conte said.
The replacement bridge is in the same area as the original Morandi bridge, which was demolished after it collapsed on August 14, 2018.
The original bridge, named for the engineer who designed it, Riccardo Morandi, was built during the 1960s and became a key artery for Ligurian coastal communities and link from Italy to France.
Morandi warned a decade after the bridge opened that it would require continuous maintenance to remove rust given the effects of corrosion from sea air and pollution on the concrete.
The span’s collapse, with dozens of cars and trucks on it, was the most deadly in a series of bridge disasters in recent years and exposed the horrific state of Italy’s ageing road infrastructure.
It subsequently emerged that authorities were aware the Ponte Morandi’s concrete had corroded over time and that the bridge was structurally compromised.
Criminal investigations were opened to ascertain blame.
A total of 74 people are accused in the legal case, which has seen investigators use a super computer to trawl through thousands of documents and files seized from Autostrade offices and the transport ministry.
Italian architect and Genoa native Renzo Piano was selected to design the replacement bridge.
Construction work continued even after most Italian industry came to a halt last month to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
