[Florence] Ponte Vecchio
There weren’t always goldsmiths and jewellers selling their goods on Ponte-Vecchio…
That’s right, jewellery shops made their appearance on Ponte Vecchio only in 1593-94, at the request of Ferdinando I de’ Medici.
In the past, the bridge housed butcher shops! butchers had been kept afar from the buildings in the city center and were also allowed to throw the foul-smelling wastes directly into the river.
Thing is, such scenery (and smells) didn’t go along that well with the Medici’s plans, especially if you consider that Palazzo Pitti had by then become the official residence of the Grand Dukes, so that meant the Medici family frequently traversed the Vasari Corridor (that connects the Palazzo Pitti with Palazzo Vechio), built in 1565 right above the east side of Ponte Vecchio.
In a nutshell, butchers had to relocate their businesses.
[Vasari Corridor (the secret passageway of the Medici)](%5BFlorence%5D%20Ponte%20Vecchio/Vasari%20Corridor%20(the%20secret%20passageway%20of%20the%20Medi%20eac32382212a41a88805128b5bd9e84b.md)
The only bridge in Florence that survived World War II
During the Nazi retreat in August 1944, all of the Florentine bridges were bombed and destroyed except one: luckily enough, Ponte Vecchio was spared!
Reportedly, the credit for such a fortunate memory lapse goes to Gerhard Wolf, the German consul in Florence at the time. Access was obstructed and most of the buildings at both ends were destroyed but, thanks to Wolf’s commitment, our beloved Old Bridge made it through. As a sign of gratitude for his actions (Wolf also played a decisive role in rescuing political prisoners and Jews from persecution), the former consul was made an honorary citizen of Florence in 1955 and a marble plaque in his honour was unveiled on Ponte Vecchio in 2007.