Ponte Vecchio
Perhaps already built back in the era of the Roman colony, it is the oldest bridge in the city. It was built in wood on piers of stone and crosses the Arno River at its narrowest point, at the place where the antique ferryboat for river crossing was found. Ruined in 1117 and later reconstructed, it was destroyed again in 1333 by flooding and rebuilt once again in 1345, perhaps by Neri di Fioravante, but this time in stone making it very solid.
Ponte Vecchio is wide enough to have two arched porticos on its sides where 43 bottegas were set, at first with butcher shops and green grocer's, until the grand duke Ferdinand I, at the end of 1500, wanted that their places be occupied by gold smiths and jewelry shops.
Thanks to the earnings from rental fees of these shops, another reconstruction of the bridge was made possible. Always crowed with people, it remains even today a symbol of Florence and although it was built with the sole aim of crossing the river, it has taken the form of a real street, a marketplace, a square.
Ponte Vecchio was saved from bombings by the Germans, who bombed the adjacent surroundings to bar access, while with the flood of 1966, which we may all remember, damages occurring to the shops were grave.