The first construction of Ponte Vecchio in Florence, dates back to Roman times but was repeatedly damaged by flooding of the river: in 1080 there was a wooden bridge, while the five-arched stone bridge was built around 1170; damaged in 1222 and 1322, was swept away by the flood of 1333, one of the most violent on record. After the construction of the “lungarnos”, the bridge was rebuilt, with three crossings in 1345 and is considered built by Taddeo Gaddi (according to Vasari) or by Neri di Fioravante.
In 1442 the city authorities to preserve the cleanliness and decorum, ordered his butchers to meet in the shops on the Ponte Vecchio to isolate them from the palaces and homes of the center. The measure was intended primarily to eliminate the usual stinking traces left by the carts of the butchers along the streets of the Arno during the transport of the smallest scraps of the processing of the meat that could now disperse directly, without any damage, in the underlying current the river. Since that time the bridge became the meat market and the butchers, who later became owners of the shops, to get more space, added in a disorderly way some little rooms jutting out over the river shore with wooden poles.
Ponte Vecchio is composed of three large lowered arches crossings (ratio of height to width 1:6); for the first time in the West the Roman model which provided for the exclusive use of round arches crossings (that is semicircular arches) was surpassed, since, in the case of a very long bridge it required a large number of arches, creating potential hazards in case of flood (for simple obstruction of the narrow crossings) or a very pronounced slope, an equally undesirable solution (typical cases: the Ponte della Maddalena, near Borgo a Mozzano, the Ponte Fabricio, in Rome). This example funded a new approach, the Rialto Bridge in Venice and many others were built with lowered arches.
The bridge of Alconétar, in Spain, offers a much older use of lowered arches crossings, but can not avoid the problem of clogging the river bed with piers to support the arches, as it is a bridge crossings with numerous small crossings, very similar to traditional bridges with round arches.
Another typical feature, much more obvious to the tourist but less revolutionary, is the passage flanked by two rows of artisan shops, housed in old arcades then closed, which made him famous, as if it were the continuation of the road. All the shops of Ponte vecchio overlook the central passage, each with a single window closed by heavy wooden doors, and often have embossed backshops on the river and supported by machicolations.
RSS
Facebook
Google+
