Bridge sights in Florence
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Ponte Vecchio
This famous bridge has twinkled with the glittering wares of jewellers ever since the 16th century, when Ferdinando I de’ Medici ordered them here to replace the often malodorous presence of the town butchers, who were wont to toss unwanted leftovers into the river.
The bridge as it stands was built in 1345 and was the only one in Florence saved from destruction by the retreating Germans in 1944. Look above the shops on the eastern side and you will see the Corridoio Vasariano, an elevated covered passageway joining the Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti that was designed by Vasari for Cosimo I in 1565. Its original design incorporated small windows to ensure t…
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Ponte Alle Grazie
In 1237, Giovanni Villani tells us, Messer Rubaconte da Mandella, a Milanese then serving as external martial (podestà) in Florence, had this bridge built. It was swept away in 1333 and on its replacement were raised chapels, one of them dubbed Madonna alle Grazie (Our Lady of the Graces), from which the bridge then took its name.
Eventually the chapel, at one end of the bridge, was expanded into a small convent whose Benedictine nuns lived in isolation. Their food was passed to them through a small window and so the nuns became known as Le Murate (The Walled-in Ones). In 1424 they left for larger premises on Via dell'Agnolo, which took on their name, Le Murate. Much lat…
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Corridoio Vasariano
If you have to move from one of your palatial city homes to another, why should you have to descend to the streets to do so? The Medicis saw no reason to, and in 1565 Cosimo I ordered court architect Giorgio Vasari to construct the Corridoio Vasariano. The indoor promenade still provides an unbroken link between the Uffizi and the Palazzo Pitti all the way across the Arno.
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