5 Breathtaking Bridges to see in Florence

5 Breathtaking Bridges to see in Florence

Image: Pixabay

The city of Florence is amazingly beautiful, with picture renaissance and ancient architecture, buildings, and monuments. The city is the capital of Tuscany, a dreamy, vast land with rolling hills and probably the breadbasket of the region! Art galleries, food, and a rich culture going back centuries. Florence is known for its art and amazing architecture; the Uffizi Gallery, which is heaven for art lovers may be one of the things which draw millions of people to the city, but have you checked out the bridges in this city? Because you need to. They are an important part of this vibrant Italian City!

The Arno River is one of the most important rivers in Tuscany. The river cuts across the city of Florence which means most of the bridges in the city are used to cross it. 

There are 12 bridges in Florence and each has a story! These are five of the most beautiful brides in the city that are worth taking a look at!

1. Indiano Bridge 

Image: Wikimedia Commons

In a city of ancient architecture and stone bridges, the Indiano Bridge is unique, if you ask me. The bridge is one of the bridges which crosses the Arno River in Florence, Italy near the Indian Monument of Chhatrapati Rajaram. This is the world’s first earth anchored cable-stayed bridges. It was built between 1972 and 1978. 

The bridge is spectacular but also really fascinating because it has a pedestrian crossing on the lower side. The bridge is attributed to being the largest cable-stayed bridge in Italy. It is indeed a bridge of many firsts!

2. Ponte Vecchio

Image; Wikimedia Commons

Ponte Vecchio loosely translates to ‘The Old Bridge’ a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental-arched bridge that crosses the Arno River and was designed by Taddeo Gaddi. In the medieval Middle Ages, the bridge architecture had shops on the bridge, something that the Ponte Vecchio Bridge still has! So if you are in the area, you can take beautiful photographs and also buy some souvenirs from the shops on the bridge! I mean, how many times do you find shops on a bridge? The bridge is eighty-four meters long, and thirty-two meters wide has three arches two of them being twenty-seven meters and the middle one is thirty meters long. The bridge, until 1218 was the only bridge across the Arno River!

It is one of the most unique and old bridges in the area and it is a three arch bridge; the original bridge was built by the Romans in 996 AD and was often swept by floods which were common in the area. This was one designed and was built in 1834 and it incorporated designed which allowed the water to pass freely, therefore reducing the effects of water. The bridge connects the city to the Oltrarno district. Another interesting thing about the bridge is that it is the only one spared by the Germans during the Second World War!

3. St Trinity Bridge 

Image: Wikipedia

The St Trinity Bridge, also known as Ponte Saint Trinita is the oldest elliptical arch bridge in the world! The three ellipses give the bridge its unique and picturesque appearance. The bridge crosses River Arno at the very central part and is also located near the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. 

The bridge gets its name for the nearby St Trinity Church and the first wooden bridge was funded by Lamberto Frescobaldi back in 1252! After that, a few other bridges were constructed over time and the current one designed by Bartolomeo Ammannatti which was commissioned by Comino I and was completed in 1592. Some people even say that Michelangelo took part in designing the current bridge, in which the baroque style of bridge design was used in its elliptical arches! 

Apart from the arches, the bridge has statues of the four seasons; Autumn, Winter Summer, and Spring which were included in the design of the bridge after the marriage of Cosimo II de’Medici to Maria Maddalena of Austria in the 17th Century. During the 1944 retreat of the Germans during World War II, the bridge was blown up and the statues were destroyed. After some time, they were found in the river and put together even after a challenge getting the head of Spring and antiquarian Luigi Bellini offered a reward for anyone who recovered it and it was recovered in 1961 and it was put together again!

4. Ponte Alla Carraia 

Image: Wikimedia

The spectacular five arch bridge crosses the Arno River linking the district of Oltrarno the rest of Florence City. The initial name for the bridge was ‘New Bridge’, or Ponte Nuovo! The bridge was built in 1218 but was destroyed in 1269. Because it was such an important part of the area because of its importance in transporting people and goods, it was rebuilt with some parts incorporating the use of stone. Other bridges, including this one, were destroyed by also destroyed by floods and even one of them had two chapels; one in each end! 

The bridge was destroyed during World War II in 1944 and rebuilt in 1950. The Florentines however really hated the bridge because of its design, saying it looked like humpback and the authorities were equally disappointed in the people that the opened the bridge without a ceremony which was uncommon those days! 

5. Ponte Alle Grazie 

Image: Wikimedia Commons

The bridge got its name from a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Grace, or Santa Maria Delle Grazie. The bridge dates back to the 13th Century and just like most bridges in the city, this is not the original one. The first bridge was called Ponte di Rubaconte which was destroyed during WWII and the current one was erected in 1945. The bridge is a reinforced concrete arched road bridge. The bridge is 117 meters long and about 15 meters wide. 

The medieval stone bridge is now home to a guerrilla statue which was installed; believe it or not- at night by an artist!

The first bridge also had shops as was the fashion those days, just like the Ponte Vecchio, but when the remodeling was done, and the second bridge was built, the shops were removed. Also, the first bridge was used as a form of defense!