Naviglio Grande is a historically significant canal located in Lombardy, northern Italy. Constructed between 1177 and 1272 to connect the Ticino river near Tornavento to the Porta Ticinese dock in Milan, it drops 34 meters over its 49.9 kilometer span. It has served as an important waterway for commercial, transportive, and irrigation purposes, becoming the most important of the Milanese navigli during the medieval period. Today, the Naviglio Grande is used primarily for irrigation, though there are ongoing initiatives to restore the canal's transportive functions.