Jean Louis Protche, Manufacturer of Porretta.
While much is known about Porrettana, little information is known about the legendary manufacturer, the Engineer Protche: it is at least partially to fill this gap we report briefly the events of his life and that the constellation.
Born in Metz in 1818, from a child lost both parents: her mother, to 7 years, and his father, Army Colonel, 13, murdered by a soldier for this, together with his brother, spent a difficult childhood , full of hardship due to economic hardships of the family that hosted his grandfather.
For this he was soon forced to find work to sustain their family and that of his grandfather, in the meantime the private pension from a government decree.
Later he joined with his brother, at the prestigious Ecole Polytecnique in Paris, where he graduated in 1843 Engineer Class II and Class I in 1851, coming second in their course.
He was immediately hired by a governmental structure and worked on the construction of roads, canals and railways: its rapid specialization and experience, preferable to others when they did the Society for the railroads of Lombardy and Central Italy sought a reputation for technical direct the work of the Italian central railway building.
In October of 1856 so JLProtche arrived in Bologna, where he had located one of two directions of the work (the other was in Verona for the railways of the Lombardo-Veneto) on the Tuscan-Emilian lines.
Opened July 21, 1859 the line Piacenza - Bologna, which he also helped design the new station in Bologna, the Protche since then devoted himself full time to train the Apennines. But not only the Porrettana he occupied: after it became the first Director (1866) and president (1872) of the 'Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, he built a hemp processing plant in Jesi in the Marche region, one in Corticella (Bologna) and third in Vergato; well designed the new Market Hall in Bologna. He also worked at the time the project of new line to Verona and studied the route through the Brenner Pass, was also consulted by the engineer. Lanino for problems that, in the course of 1866, derived from the excavation of the tunnels of Ariano and Starza and to whom he was able to give a brilliant solution. Also conducts studies on the Lucca-Aulla and vital even today, remains on the future Direttissima Bologna - Florence for which they carry long and tiring reconnaissance on the ridges of the Apennines, though now the forces had already begun to abandon it after the first symptoms appeared since since 1879, the disease that would take him then to death.
Dying in Bologna March 31, 1886, his last words were addressed to both still love railroads, and in particular his latest creation to that which did not have time to see the birth: the Direttissima.
Even today, his memory of a great man and technical arouses admiration, looking at the ventilation shafts suggestive of many of the galleries of Porrettana, still standing at about 150 years after their construction, is to return in thought to the myriad of problems large and small who was able to resolve during the years of its construction epic, the great technical mastery and even, at times, unbelievable, "professionalism" in resolving the difficulties that presented themselves. All this suggests to us - admired by the great masterpiece that still stands on the horizon with his track on the ridges of the Apennines, and that it represents the tireless activity of his epitaph - a deep admiration and respect in memory of a Man which, of course, still has much to teach many of our much-vaunted technical: he, old and weary, walk along the Apennine ridge windy to make sure of the validity of a choice in comfortable ... while they visits by helicopter accompanied by swarms of assistants!
But, surely, their name will never be written on the stones of a railway ... .. now a legend like that of Jean Louis Protche!
Text by: Maurizio Panconesi
