PONTE VECCHIO

The 'Ponte Vecchio' (IPA pronunciation: ) (Italian for ''Old Bridge'') Ponte Vecchio, , , , Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007, is a Medieval bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy, noted for having shops built along it. Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewelers, art dealers and souvenir sellers. It has been described as Europe's oldest wholly-stone, closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge, but there are far older segmental arch bridges such as Alconétar Bridge.
Believed to have been first built in Roman times Florence: An Architectural Guide, , Guido, Zucconi, Arsenale Editrice srl, 1995, ISBN 88-7743-147-4 , it was originally made of wood. After being destroyed by a flood in 1333 it was rebuilt in 1345^[1], this time in stone. Most of the design is attributed to Taddeo Gaddi.^[2] The bridge consists of three segmental arches, the main arch has a span of 30 meters (98 feet) the two side arches each span 27 meters (88 feet). The rise of the arches is between 3.5 and 4.4 meters (11½ to 14½ feet), and the span-to-rise ratio 5:1.^[3]
It has always hosted shops and merchants (legend says this was originally due to a tax exemption), which displayed their goods on tables after authorization of the Bargello (a sort of a lord mayor, a magistrate and a police authority).
It is 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. The corporative association of butchers had monopolised the shops on the bridge since 1442.
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.^[4] 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.
Along the Ponte Vecchio, there were many padlocks locked to various places, especially to the railing around the statue of Benvenuto Cellini. This is a recent tradition for the Ponte Vecchio, although it has been practiced in Russia and in Asia before. It was perhaps introduced by the padlock shop owner at the end of the bridge. It is popularly connected to idea of love and lovers: by locking the padlock and throwing the key into the river, the lovers became eternally bonded. This is an example of the negative impact of the mass tourism (thousands of padlocks needed to be removed frequently, spoiling or damaging the structure of the centuries-old bridge); however, it seems to have decreased after the city administration put a sign on the bridge mentioning a 50€ penalty for those caught locking something to the fence.

Panorama of the Ponte Vecchio and the Arno during sunset

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External links

Gallery

References

1. Preliminary Design of Bridges for Architects and Engineers, , Michele G, Melaragno, Marcel Dekker, 1998, ISBN 0824701844
2. Ponte Vecchio, , , , Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007,
3. . Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
4. Renaissance Florence, , Gene, Brucker, University of California Press, 1983, ISBN 0520046951

See also

★ Vasari Corridor

External links

★ Ponte Vecchio, Florence virtual reality movie and pictures

★ Independent study of Ponte Vecchio with Pictures

★ Satellite image from Google Maps

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★ Ponte Vecchio, Florence