The Ponte Vecchio ｜ Florence, Italy, Italian Renaissance, Art and Architecture

The Ponte Vecchio literally translates to old bridge and it is in fact the oldest bridge crossing the river Arno which runs through Florence, Italy. It was built in 1345 however a bridge has crossed this part of the Arno river since Roman times nearly 1,000 years earlier. Today's Ponte Vecchio is comparatively new as the earlier version was destroyed when the Arno river flooded washing away the bridge that predated this one. The floods deposited mud, mud and water throughout Florence as the river has done periodically since becoming a settlement. Above the Ponte Vecchio when it shops is a private passage commissioned by the Mendici family in the renaissance to connect the government complex of the Uffizi to the palace on the other side of the river. The Uffizi today started by the Mendici houses the world's greatest collection of renaissance art and the windows along the private passage above the bridge can still be seen with wrought iron bars protecting those who may have needed to flee from the Uffizi's government complex to the protected Pitti palace on the other side of the river. The windows above the arches were a more recent addition made by Mussolini so that visiting Adolf Hitler could view the Arno river in style. Shops have existed on the Ponte Vecchio for centuries. Originally they were leather tanners and butchers as it was a great place to discard waste into the Arno's rushing waters below. This was changed to gold shops and jewelers in the 16th century because Duke Ferdinando was disgusted by the smell in his daily walks. The bridge you see here has passed through the end of the middle ages the renaissance the division of and unification of the kingdom of Italy surviving numerous floods coming from the snowmelt of north Italy's mountains. However it more recently survived world war ii when retreating Germans refused to blow up the bridge to impede the allied advance it was blocked instead and thus it lives on as the oldest bridge crossing the Arno river.