Gleno Dam Disaster

Date: December 1, 1923 • Location: Vilminore di Scalve, Italy

The Gleno Dam in the Italian province of Bergamo failed due to poor workmanship, flooding the downstream valley and killing at least 356 people.

The Gleno Dam was a multiple arch buttress dam on the Gleno Creek in the Valle di Scalve, northern Province of Bergamo, Italy. The dam was built between 1916 and 1923 with the purpose of producing hydroelectric power. The middle section of the dam collapsed on 1 December 1923, forty days after the reservoir was filled, causing widespread flooding that killed at least 356 people.