Ponte Vecchio

43.76798888888911.253191666667Koordinaten: 43 ° 46 ' 4.8 "N, 11 ° 15' 11.5 " E

F1

Arno

The Ponte Vecchio ( pronunciation: [ pɔntevɛkkio ], Italian for Old Bridge) is the oldest bridge over the Arno River in the Italian city of Florence. The building is considered one of the oldest segmental arch bridges in the world.

History

Even in the Etruscan period there was a river crossing here. After a 1333 flood had destroyed a standing in the same place wooden bridge current bridge was rebuilt in stone in twelve years of construction. Laterally along the bridge are located since 1345 completely lined up small shops with the bridge towards directional input, its rear portion each have a balcony similar projects over the actual bridge. Only in the middle of the bridge allow three arcades of the passers-by a look up of the Arno River to the east, to the west there is an open space with a statue of Benvenuto Cellini's portrait.

On behalf of Cosimo I de ' Medici was built by Giorgio Vasari in 1565 over the row of shops, a transition, a part of the so-called Vasarikorridors which connects the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti.

Originally, mainly on the bridge butchers and tanners resident. The butcher threw their stinking waste into the Arno, the Gerber washed their substances that were previously tanned with horse urine. 1565 but these were replaced by decree of Cosimo I de ' Medici by goldsmiths, as these produce no waste. Even today there are many jewelers in the little shops on the bridge.

When the Germans retreated from Florence in the Second World War, the Ponte Vecchio was not destroyed the only bridge in the city, but only blocked with the remnants of the surrounding buildings destroyed. Allegedly, Hitler gave the order to leave the bridge intact, even as the German consul Gerhard Wolf is attributed to the prevention of demolition.

Ponte Vecchio as a motif in art

Film

In the neo-realist film Paisà Episode ( 1946) by Roberto Rossellini bridge the front portion of the civil war between the Black Brigades Mussolini and the communist-led guerrilla units reflects: on both sides of the Arno members of the same families were hostile.

A scene from Hannibal plays near the Ponte Vecchio, on the banks of the Arno.

Music

In O mio babbino caro ( " O my dear father," 1918), a famous aria of the opera Gianni Schicchi by the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, threatens Lauretta to pounce from lovesickness of the Ponte Vecchio, as her family and her lover to hostile to.

On the bridge

Ponte Vecchio ( close-up)

Ponte Vecchio from the north shore

With fireworks