The complex of works constituting the hydraulic node of the Panperduto is subjected to protection by the Superintendency of Cultural and Architectural Heritage as a monumental asset: it allows the derivation of the Ticino waters, through the Villoresi Canal or the Navigli system up to Pavia, makes it possible to irrigate part of the dry plains of the Basso Varesotto and the Alto Milanese.

The intake structure, located in Somma Lombardo (Varese), amid the Lombardy Valley Ticino Park, consists of overflow dam with a hydrodynamic profile crossing the entire Ticino riverbed, with a height of 4.75 m; 70 m long intake building connected to the dam, with 30 sluice gates measuring 1.50 m x 3 m high; navigation basin, to the left of the intake building; water collection basin derived from intake structure with a sand light arrester with 4 lights: 2.50 m high and 1.5 m wide; spillway with 36 lights 3 m long; bottom trap, remains of the navigation basin with the river and intake building of Visconti di Modrone irrigation ditch; regulating building or “incile” for the derivation of the Villoresi Canal and the derivation of the Industrial Canal; the beginning of the Villoresi Canal proper with the annexed navigation basin and the navigation basin on the Industrial Canal; a hostel and a Water Museum. Completed in 1884, the building rests on 16 diaphragms that support 30 sluice gates on 15 lights.

In particular, the downstream prospect is characterized by vaulted arched grouped in pairs, originating from a three-light window in the centre. The whole area is protected and open to recreational activities. The building on the left of the intake structure, originally used as a hydraulic tollbooth, also took on the function of a hostel and structure of support for the use of the area, while the one on the right, reachable only through routes inside hydraulic structures or by water, it has been transformed into the Museum of Italian-Swiss waters. An underground hydroelectric power plant was built on-site, managed by the Est Ticino Villoresi Consortium and the Enel Green Power company. The latter arose to illustrate the origin, history and functionality of the Italo-Swiss Ticino water basin. Located in the centre of the artificial island of Confurto, it is thought like an "ecomuseum" to be included in navigable itineraries. The museum recovers the physiognomy of the original building through a conservative restructuring. In the "Geography Room" a map is drawn on the floor of the route that leads from Sesto Calende to the Dams. A "Garden of water" has been created to the south of the museum and along the canal. The Garden proposes an interesting selection of water games. Along with the intake, the structure is positioned a didactic itinerary that illustrates the construction.

Water Heritage

The structure represents a milestone/turning points in the development of irrigated agriculture and bears exceptional testimony to the development of agriculture and an increase in food production along with the improvement of the economic condition of farmers;

The complex of hydraulic works in question has made it possible to irrigate parts of the dry plains of the Basso Varesotto and Alto Milanese, geo-morphologically arid, not suitable for agricultural development and characterized by contractual types that favoured impoverishing cultivation systems. In fact, before the construction of the hydraulic system, in these areas, it was not possible to carry out intensive agriculture. Undoubtedly the construction of the intake structure has allowed the spread of crops, such as corn, requiring large quantities of water, improving, in this way, the living conditions of local populations. Today, through the Industrial Canal, the intake structure feeds the Milanese Navigli System (Grande, Bereguardo and Pavese), to whose waters we owe the prosperity of Lombard agriculture, renowned over the world for its quality standards.

The structure was ahead of its times in terms of project formulation, engineering design, construction techniques, dimensions of the structure itself, quantum of water diverted, and size of the command;

The intake structure and the projects that inspired it had a long gestation and involved a lively cultural exchange between technicians and engineers, indicative of how Lombardy had been able to insert itself effectively in the dynamics of technology transfer that guided the European industrialization. The contribution made to the technical-scientific culture of the time as well as the impetus given to the maturation of a curious and attentive public opinion to the evolution of progress was significant. The project of the work immediately appeared of great technical complexity. For the dam alone, were needed 22,000 cubic meters of concrete, a quantity that today is "normal" in large buildings but that went beyond any reasonable imagination at the end of the 19^th century.

The structure made outstanding contribution to enhancing food production, livelihood opportunities, rural prosperity, and poverty alleviation in a region;

Irrigation and the consequent agricultural development of the area with the introduction of new crops undoubtedly allowed optimization of food production, generating a surplus that improved the living conditions of local farmers, in a historical moment characterized by the crisis of the traditional silkworm.

The structure was an example of engineering marvel or excellence at the time of its construction;

The work has structural qualities that still today make it capable on one hand of "resisting" to the flood events of the Ticino River, even though it was not conceived with today's technical and technological standards, and on the other hand of guaranteeing to the “users” of the derivative flows - Consorzio Est Ticino Villoresi and Enel Green Power company - a very high level of efficiency in terms of water level stability.

The structure contributed to the evolution of efficient and contemporary engineering theories and practices;

At the base of the construction of the work, in addition to huge financial resources, an important development of new construction techniques is also traced. Among the important figures that were applied there, in addition to Eugenio Villoresi, the engineer Cesare Cipolletti cannot be forgotten, who studied a particular instrument to measure the water flow to be distributed to the users, which he took the name of “Cipolletti weir". The technologies acquired on site were also exported outside national borders. In Argentine Patagonia, reclaimed and irrigated by the waters of the Rio Negro on the base of Cipolletti's projects, there is still today a city that bears his name.

The structure is an example of attention to environmental aspects in its design and construction;

Over time, nature recaptured all the spaces once removed from construction sites; the complex of hydraulic works appears therefore perfectly inserted in a landscape context in which it seems to have always existed.

The structure bears the stamp of a cultural tradition or a civilization of past;

Lombardy over the centuries has earned a prominent place due to the significant presence of water and its wise distribution. Already towards the end of the eighteenth century, the irrigated countryside of the region represented an obligatory reference for agronomists (not only Italians) as an extraordinary example of an age-old artificial agricultural landscape. The realization of the intake structure follows this luminous and consolidated tradition.

Present State of Conservation

No particular factors of impairment of the intake structure are evident. Today the plant has a generally good state of maintenance, as it does not require particular interventions linked to its management. In recent years, the structure has been a subject of significant safety, which concerned, in particular, the static consolidation of the wall structure of the building of the dam (exposed over time to water pressure and weather conditions) and the improvement of the hydraulic functionality and efficiency of the work, thanks to the replacement of 25 gates and a progressive introduction of automation. Significant was the work of strengthening of the foundations through the creation of an impermeable screen with concrete columns injected by high pressure injected, using jet grouting engineering technique.