Photographs of the Bridges
Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy
At the moment when I decided to write my book about bridges visited by tourists, I immediately knew that the first thing I needed to do was book a plane ticket bound for Italy. I had been years before, but could not begin such a project without first paying homage to what may be the most famous tourist bridge in the world, the Ponte Vecchio.
Bridges constructed at this location in Florence were destroyed by floods in 1117 and 1333. The current bridge, constructed in 1345, has survived additional floods and wars for more than 650 years.
The bridge itself is nondescript. It consists of three arches resting on two piers in the middle of the river, all made out of local stone. The stone surface is flat, undecorated, and not particularly attractive. Actually, it looks dirty and old. The bridge is not large, being only about 300 feet long and 15 feet above river level. The bridge structure itself is not what catches your eye when viewing it from a distance, and is not visible at all to you when you are standing on it.
Instead, the bonus feature of this bridge is the shops and apartments, in narrow two- and three-story structures that line both sides of the bridge and overhang the sides. The buildings originally housed butcher shops. Then, in 1593, the ruling Medici, Ferdinand, decided that the practice of throwing wastes from the butcher operations over the edge into the river was unappealing, and he decreed that the butcher shops be replaced by goldsmiths.
More than 500 years later, almost all of the shops are still occupied by high-end jewelry stores that do a brisk business year-round. The shops are on the first floors of the buildings, and small apartments with tiny balconies are found on the second and third floors.
I reserved Chapter 1 of my book, Bridgespotting: A Guide to Bridges that Connect People, Places, and Times, for the few iconic, landmark bridges that are major tourist attractions within a setting of other major tourist attractions. There was never a question – Ponte Vecchio was a key part of Chapter 1 from the start.
