Bridge sights in Italy
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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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Ponte di Calatrava
Modern Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s 2008 bridge over the Grand Canal between Santo Croce and Cannaregio has been called many things: a fish tail, a glass-and-steel fantasy, unnecessary, overdue, pleasingly streamlined and displeasingly wheelchair inaccessible. Its detractors point out that its costs surpassed triple the original 2001 estimate, and engineers are still working to correct a 4cm tolerance to ensure its stability. Even among its supporters, there is disagreement. Some claim the bridge is best seen at night, when it looks from afar like a meteoric streak of light across the Grand Canal; and others prefer it by day, when you can appreciate the red ribb…
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Ponte dell'Accademia
The wooden Ponte dell’Accademia, with a high arch like a cat’s back, was built in 1933 as a temporary replacement for an 1854 iron bridge, but it remains a beloved landmark. Engineer Eugenio Miozzi moved onto bigger Fascist monuments such as the Lido casino and the Ponte della Libertà bridge to the mainland, but none has stood the test of time quite like this elegant little footbridge. Renovations scheduled to begin in 2010/11 are long overdue, but the city is quick to reassure the bridge’s ardent admirers that changes will be overwhelmingly structural.
One of the most common images from Venice is the view of the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute from this spot. T…
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Ponte di Rialto
An amazing feat of engineering in its day, Antonio da Ponte’s 1592 marble bridge was for centuries the only land link across the Grand Canal. The construction cost 250,000 gold ducats, a staggering sum that puts cost overruns for the new Calatrava bridge into perspective. Now that the Rialto is clogged with kiosks and foot-traffic jams, locals go out of their way to avoid it, or zip up the less scenic northern side of the bridge. The southern side faces San Marco, and when crowds of shutterbugs and tour groups clear out around sunset, it offers a romantic long view of gondolas pulling up to Grand Canal palazzi, at striped moorings that look like floating barber poles.
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Ponte delle Tette
‘Tits Bridge’ got its name in the late 15th century, when neighbourhood prostitutes were encouraged to display their wares in windows instead of taking their marketing campaigns to the streets. Crossing over the bridge, you’ll reach Rio Terà delle Carampane, named after a noble family’s house (Ca’ Rampani) that became notorious as a meeting place for local streetwalkers, who to this day are known as carampane. Instead of hanging out in windows, more-ambitious working girls might be found studying: for educated conversation, courtesans might charge 60 times the basic rates of the average carampane.
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Ponte Sant’Angelo
Hadrian built the Ponte Sant’Angelo across the River Tiber in 136 to provide an approach to his mausoleum, but it was Bernini who brought it to life with his angel sculptures in the 17th century. The three central arches of the bridge are part of the original structure; the end arches were restored and enlarged in 1892–94 during the construction of the Lungotevere embankments.
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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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Ponte delle Torri
An hour-long stroll or an all-day hike is a lovely way to while away an afternoon along the Via del Ponte to the Ponte delle Torri, erected in the 14th century on the foundations of a Roman aqueduct. The bridge is 80m high and 230m across, built in an imposing set of 10 arches.
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Arco di Augusto
At the southeastern end of Corso d'Augusto, the Arco di Augusto was erected in 27 BC, while at the Corso's other end, the Ponte di Tiberio (Tiberius' Bridge) dates to the 1st century AD.
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