The Old Bridge

Florence's Ponte Vecchio medieval bridge lined by goldsmiths

The Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) links the north and south banks of the Arno River at its narrowest point. The bridge has long been a landmark symbol of the city. It was destroyed and rebuilt many times before the construction of the 1345 bridge you see today, designed by Taddeo Gaddi, and has stood lined with these same goldsmith's shops for centuries.

Many of the exclusive gold and jewelry stores are owned by descendents of the 41 artisans set up on the bridge in the 16th century by Cosimo I de' Medici. No longer able to tolerate the smell from the bridge's old butchers and skin tanners on his trips to/from the new Medici residence in the Palazzo Pitti on the other side of the river, Cosimo booted them out and moved in the classier goldsmiths (and upped the rent).

Florentines tirelessly recount the story of how in 1944 Hitler's retreating troops destroyed all the bridges crossing the Arno—all since reconstructed, often with the original material fished out of the river, or at least according to the archival designs—with the exception of the Ponte Vecchio. Supposedly, some Nazi with a momentary fit of whimsy thought it was too beautiful to blow up. Instead, they bombed both bridgeheads to block Allied access to it, resulting in the 1950s look of those buildings in the otherwise medieval areas of Via Por Santa Maria and Via Guicciardini.