The Variante di Valico crosses two regions (Tuscany and Emilia Romagna), two provinces (Florence and Bologna) and eight municipalities, for a total of about 58 km. The aim of the project is to modernize the Autostrada del Sole in the Florence – Bologna tract, straddling the Apennines: one of the busiest areas in Italy and one of the most exposed to seismic risks. Thinking and implementing the Variant has required great flexibility on behalf of the designers, who have been able to face and solve the problems arising from the geographic conformation of the territory by inventing a new way of excavating. They have thus succeeded in reducing slopes, that is to say ramps, climbs and descents – the points where trucks struggle the most to brake – and to facilitate heavy traffic as well as that of cars. The project consists in the construction of a series of tunnels and viaducts in a delicate area, where strong risk of landslides must be faced.

The new motorway works together with the existing one, but dividing the heavy traffic from the mixed one. For this impressive project, the last parts of which were completed in 2015, Toto Costruzioni Generali has built a total of four lots.