Ponte Vecchio & Arno River, Florence

The Arno river, which cuts through the old part of the city. One of the bridges in particular stands out as being unique - The Ponte Vecchio, features multitude of shops built upon its edges, held up by stilts.

You will find lots of vendors trying to sell pictures of Florence... but don't buy immediately cause some of them are fakes with high prices.

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Although there are a lot of famous things in beautiful Florence I would say that the old bridge, Ponte Vecchio, is at least on top 3.

It took me three or four visits to Florence before I actually got there, and the first time I actually was standing on the bridge was on the way between two bars, shortly after midnight, so i can't really say that I was totally aware about that I actually was there... ;)

The second time was better though, and definately worth the earlier tries to find it (yeah, I know... It's not that hard to find the bridge, but you know me and maps... At least I got to see some other rivers in Florence!).

Actually I'm not sure about my "title", since I thought, and it seems, like people are living inside the bridge. But other people say that there are only shops there, mostly jewellers.

Anyway, the bridge is overcrowded by tourists, as the whole city, but it's still worth a visit. Try to find some space on the bridge, and watch out over the Arno River.

Or even better, try to find some space on one of the other bridges, close by, and watch the Ponte Vecchio from there!

The bridge was built in 1333, and rebuilt 1345. From the beginning built as a bridge for soldiers to pass over the river, but soon instead that was packed with merchants.

Later on the mighty people in Florence wanted to give the bridge a more glamour style, and made sure to throw away these people.

It was the only bridge in Florence that wasn't destroyed during the second world war, but instead nature itself fixed it 20 years later... Floods destroyed all the shops, although the bridge itself survived.

(Thanks to jlee008 for most of the information!)

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The Ponte Vecchio has been home to shops for hundreds of years. It is said that the term "bankruptcy" derived here - when a merchant could not pay his debts, his "banco" (table) was "rotto" (broken). "Bancorotto" - he couldn't sell anything anymore.

It could also come from the fact that you could bankrupt yourself if you indulge too much in the temptations of the many jewelry stores lining either side of it.

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Ponte Vecchio is the oldest bridge of Florence and was built in 1345. It is the only bridge that remains undamaged after World War II. There was some workshops, butchers, leather shops and blacksmiths many years ago. You can see jewelery and antique shops nowadays. It's closed for motorized vehicles and you can take very nice river photos with reflection of buildings on the river Arno.

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The only bridge the Nazi's spared during WWII.

It's worth it to check out the jewelry shops along the bridge. Although I suspect you can find better deals elsewhere. Gold jewelry and Cameo brooches were extremely popular. The bridge originally was filled with butcher shops and tanners but Medici duke Ferdinand I thought they were not suitable and encouraged jewelers to set up shop instead.

There is a space in the middle of the bridge where you can look out on the Arno River...and take pictures!

The Ponte Vecchio, or old bridge, spans the Arno River and is famous for its shops along the way (mostly jewelers). It is actually Europe’s oldest segmental arch bridge, dating back to the Romans originally and rebuilt in stone in 1345. The bridge is rumored to have been spared by Hitler when the Nazis were retreating from Italy.

The bridge itself is so unique, you can't help but stare at it. As you walk over it, you feel as if you've entered a Medieval village.

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It's impossible not to walk on Ponte Vecchio and appreciate the view of the river Arno kissed by the sun!And also to enjoy all sellers with their stuff displayed along the bridge.
It's between Lungarno Acciaoli and Via Guicciardini and it's the oldest bridge which crosses the Arno at its widest point. It dates back to Roman times(when it was made of wood) and has often been re-built.
After the flooding of 1333 it was re-constructed with a double row of shops(this time in stone), passing from a defencive type of architecture to the actual public one. In 1565 the east-facing Vasariano Corridor above the shops was built and the back-shops were added in the seventeenth century giving the bridge its actual structure.
The bridge, that consists of three segmental arches, has always hosted shops and merchants (legend says this was originally due to a tax exemption), which displayed their goods on tables after authorisation of the Bargello (a sort of a lord mayor, a magistrate and a police authority). It's said that the economic concept of bankruptcy originated here: when a merchant could not pay his debts, the table on which he sold his wares (the "banco") was physically broken ("rotto") by soldiers, and this practice was called "bancorotto" (broken table; possibly it can come from "banca rotta" which means "broken bank"). Not having a table anymore, the merchant was not able to sell anything.
In order to connect the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence's town hall) with the Palazzo Pitti, in 1565 Cosimo I de Medici had Giorgio Vasari build the famous "Vasari corridor" above it. To enforce the prestige of the bridge, in 1593 he prohibited butchers from selling there; their place was immediately taken by gold merchants.
During World War II, the Ponte Vecchio was not destroyed by Germans during their retreat of August 4, 1944, unlike all other bridges in Florence. This was allegedly because of an express order by Hitler. Access to Ponte Vecchio was, however, obstructed by the destruction of the buildings at both ends.

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Ponte Vecchio in Florence - oldest segmental arch bridge in Europe - is more than a bridge over the river Arno. It is, like by example the Rialto Bridge in Venice, a walk-trough gallery, in this case mailny gold jewellers, and it was like that since the 1500's, when the goldsmith guild decided to place the shops on the bridge. Very odd place if you ask me, cause I'm thinking only what could happen if the bridge by some reason broke and all the precious gold would come into the river. Against the odds, the bridge holds even today, even it has literally houses built on it (check my closeup pics). The three arched on two pillars bridge seems to me one of the stiffest bridge in the world for holding that. The original bridge was destroyed and reconstructed stronger and better in 1345 after a big Arno flood in 1333 (figure that before 1333 it was made in wood, believed from the Roman times). The last challenge came during the World War II, when the bridge escaped the German bombardings.