The medieval Ponte Vecchio (‘old bridge’) over the River Arno in central Florence, Italy, during the Blue Hour.
Ponte Vecchio is a “stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge” with shops along both sides, as was traditional in Italy in medieval times. Originally the shops were mostly butchers and fisherers, but nowadays it caters to tourists with many jewellery, souvenir and shops, with wares mainly catering to the ‘senior American’ market.
It is the oldest bridge in Florence probably dating back to Roman times, though the first docomented record of the bridge dates from 996 AD. It was the only bridge over the river in the town until 1218. It has been rebuilt in bits over the years, most extensively following a major flood in 1117, then again in 1345 following an other flood in 1333 which destroyed most of it. When the Germans were retreating from Florence after WWII, they destroyed all the bridges in the city apart from the Ponte Vecchio.
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