Ponte Vecchio in Florence

The Florence’s most beautiful bridge is one of the most photographed too. Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) wasn’t built to be a stylish place: nowadays it’s full of goldsmith’s shops,but until 1565 most of the shops were groceries and butcher’s. Then on it was built the “Corridoio Vasariano” (Vasari corridor), that runs over the bridge, and the butchers and the grocers were driven out in favour of the goldsmiths and artisans. The latters were considered “more consonants” with the beauty of the place. From then on, the gold became a protagonist of Ponte Vecchio, as the statue of Benvenuto Cellini (the greatest goldsmith of Florence) reminds. In 1565 Giorgio Vasari built for Cosimo I de’ Medici the “Corridoio Vasariano” (Vasari corridor) to connect Palazzo Vecchio with Palazzo Pitti (at that time it was residence of the de’ Medici) the corridor is one kilometre long, it starts from Palazzo Vecchio, passes through the Galleria degli Uffizi (Uffizi Gallery) and over the workshops of Ponte Vecchio and ends in Palazzo Pitti. It seems that Hitler during the Second World War bombardments ordered to save the bridge.
Beauty sometimes lights up even the tyrants minds.