NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Ponte Vecchio

The Ponte Vecchio (pronounced [ˈpɔnte ˈvɛkkio]) (Italian for Old Bridge)^[2] is a Medieval bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy, noted for still having shops built along it, as was once common. Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewelers, art dealers and souvenir sellers. It has been described as Europe's oldest wholly-stone, closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge,^[2] but there are far older segmental arch bridges such as Alconétar Bridge. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1280x960, 316 KB) View of the Ponte Vecchio from a hotel balcony File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Arno River in Florence, Italy The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. ... Florence (Italian, Firenze) is a city in the center of Tuscany, in central Italy, on the Arno River, with a population of around 400,000, plus a suburban population in excess of 200,000. ... A spandrel is originally a term from Architecture, but has more recently been given an analogous meaning in Evolutionary biology. ... An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (1152 Ã— 864 pixel, file size: 712 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Please see the file description page for further information. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (1152 Ã— 864 pixel, file size: 712 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Please see the file description page for further information. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... This article is about the structure. ... Arno River in Florence, Italy The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. ... Florence (Italian, Firenze) is a city in the center of Tuscany, in central Italy, on the Arno River, with a population of around 400,000, plus a suburban population in excess of 200,000. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... A spandrel is originally a term from Architecture, but has more recently been given an analogous meaning in Evolutionary biology. ... An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. ... The AlconÃ©tar bridge may be the oldest surviving Roman stone segmental arch bridge in the world, predating other examples such as the Zhaozhou Bridge in China and Ponte Vecchio in Europe. ...

History and construction

The bridge spans the Arno at its narrowest point^[3] where it is believed that a bridge was first built in Roman times,^[4] when the via Cassia crossed the river at this point.^[5] The Roman piers were of stone, the superstructure of wood. The bridge first appears in a document of 996.^[6] After being destroyed by a flood in 1117 it was reconstructed in stone but swept away again in 1333^[4] save two of its central piers, as noted by Giovanni Villani in his Nuova Cronica.^[7] It was rebuilt in 1345,^[8] Giorgio Vasari recorded the tradition in his day, that attributed its design to Taddeo Gaddi,^[9] besides Giotto one of the few artistic names of the trecento still recalled two hundred years later. Modern historians present Neri di Fioravanti as a possible candidate.^[10] Sheltered in a little loggia at the central opening of the bridge is a weathered dedication stone, which once read Nel trentatrè dopo il mille-trecento, il ponte cadde, per diluvio dell' acque: poi dieci anni, come al Comun piacque, rifatto fu con questo adornamento^[11] Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... Route of Via Cassia (in green). ... Flooding near Key West, Florida, United States from Hurricane Wilmas storm surge in October 2005 For other uses, see Flood (disambiguation). ... Giovanni Villani (ca 1275-1348), the Florentine writer of the famous chronicles (the Cronica) is the greatest Italian chronicler of his own times and the cornerstone of the early medieval history of Florence. ... Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 â€“ 27 June 1574) was an Italian painter and architect, who is today famous for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing. ... The Angelic Announcement to the Shepherds (1328-30) Fresco in Cappella Baroncelli Santa Croce, Florence Taddeo Gaddi (c. ...

The bridge consists of three segmental arches: the main arch has a span of 30 meters (98 ft) the two side arches each span 27 meters (88 ft). The rise of the arches is between 3.5 and 4.4 meters (11½ to 14½ feet), and the span-to-rise ratio 5:1.^[1] Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (3519x2345, 5871 KB) Ponte Vecchio and bank of Arno in Florence, Italy. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (3519x2345, 5871 KB) Ponte Vecchio and bank of Arno in Florence, Italy. ... The metre, or meter (symbol: m) is the SI base unit of length. ...

It has always hosted shops and merchants who displayed their goods on tables before their premises, after authorization of the Bargello (a sort of a lord mayor, a magistrate and a police authority). The back shops (retrobotteghe) that may be seen from upriver, were added in the seventeenth century.^[12] the Bargello For the type of embroidery, please visit Bargello (needlework) The Bargello palace was built in 1255 to house first the Capitano del Populo and later, in 1261, the PodestÃ , the highest magistrate of the Florence City Council, Italy. ...

It is said that the economic concept of bankruptcy originated here: when a merchant could not pay his debts, the table on which he sold his wares (the "banco") was physically broken ("rotto") by soldiers, and this practice was called "bancorotto" (broken table; possibly it can come from "banca rotta" which means "broken bank"). Not having a table anymore, the merchant was not able to sell anything. Notice of closure stuck on the door of a computer store the day after its parent company, Granville Technology Group Ltd, declared bankruptcy (strictly, put into administrationâ€”see text) in the United Kingdom. ...

Vasari's Corridoio

In order to connect the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence's town hall) with the Palazzo Pitti, in 1565 Cosimo I de Medici had Giorgio Vasari build the famous Vasari Corridor above it.^[4] To enforce the prestige of the bridge, in 1593 the Medici Grand Dukes prohibited butchers from selling there; their place was immediately taken by gold merchants. The corporative association of butchers had monopolised the shops on the bridge since 1442. A trait of the Vasari Corridor from the Uffizi, seen from Ponte Vecchio. ... Palazzo Vecchio The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. ... Early, tinted 20th-century photograph of the Palazzo Pitti, then still known as La Residenza Reale following the residency of King Emmanuel II between 1865â€“71, when Florence was the capital of Italy. ... Cosimo I de Medici in Armour by Agnolo Bronzino Cosimo I de Medici (June 12, 1519 - April 21, 1574) was the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1537 to 1574, during the waning days of the Renaissance. ... Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 â€“ 27 June 1574) was an Italian painter and architect, who is today famous for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing. ... A trait of the Vasari Corridor from the Uffizi, seen from Ponte Vecchio. ...

A stone with an inscription from Dante (Paradiso xvi. 140-7) records the spot at the entrance to the bridge where Buondelmonte de' Buondemonti was murdered on the part of the Amidei, in 1215, initiating the urban fighting of the Guelfs and Ghibellines. DANTE is also a digital audio network. ... Paradiso may refer to: Paradiso (band), a Belgian dance act the third canto of The Divine Comedy Italian or latinized version for Heaven or Paradise Paradiso (Amsterdam), a music venue in Amsterdam a French movie by Christian Bricout Paradiso (1966 novel), a novel by Cuban writer JosÃ© Lezama Lima Paradiso...

During World War II, the Ponte Vecchio was not destroyed by Germans during their retreat of August 4, 1944, unlike all other bridges in Florence.^[13] This was allegedly because of an express order by Hitler. Access to Ponte Vecchio was, however, obstructed by the destruction of the buildings at both ends. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... is the 216th day of the year (217th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hitler redirects here. ...

Along the Ponte Vecchio, there were many padlocks locked to various places, especially to the railing around the statue of Benvenuto Cellini^[14]. This is a recent tradition for the Ponte Vecchio, although it has been practiced in Russia and in Asia before. It was perhaps introduced by the padlock shop owner at the end of the bridge. It is popularly connected to idea of love and lovers: by locking the padlock and throwing the key into the river, the lovers became eternally bonded. This is an example of the negative impact of mass tourism: thousands of padlocks needed to be removed frequently, spoiling or damaging the structure of the centuries-old bridge; however, it seems to have decreased after the city administration put a sign on the bridge mentioning a 50€ penalty for those caught locking something to the fence. Padlock A modern padlock. ... Gold Salt cellar by Cellini. ...

Gallery

References

^ ^a ^b Ponte Vecchio in the Structurae database. Retrieved on 2007-02-16
^ ^a ^b (2007) Ponte Vecchio. Encyclopædia Britannica.
^ Touring Club Italiano, Firenze e dintorni 1964:321
^ ^a ^b ^c Zucconi, Guido (1995). Florence: An Architectural Guide. San Giovanni Lupatoto, Vr, Italy: Arsenale Editrice srl. ISBN 88-7743-147-4.
^ TCI, Firenze eo. loc..
^ TCI, Firenze eo. loc..
^ Bartlett, Kenneth R. (1992). The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance. Toronto: D.C. Heath and Company. ISBN 0-669-20900-7 (Paperback). Page 40.
^ Melaragno, Michele G (1998). Preliminary Design of Bridges for Architects and Engineers. Marcel Dekker, 3. ISBN 0824701844.
^ (2007) Ponte Vecchio. Encyclopædia Britannica.
^ TCI, Firenze eo. loc..
^ TCI, Firenze, eo.loc.; translated it would read, "In the thirty-third year following thirteen hundred, the bridge fell, from a watery flood: ten years later, at the pleasure of the Commune, it was rebuilt, with this adornment".
^ TCI, Firenze eo. loc..
^ Brucker, Gene (1983). Renaissance Florence. University of California Press, 8. ISBN 0520046951.
^ By Raffaele Romanelli, 1900 (TCI, Firenze eo. loc..).

Structurae is an on-line database containing works of structural and civil engineering of all kinds such as Bridges, High-rise buildings, towers, dams, etc. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

History and construction

Vasari's Corridoio

Gallery

References

See also

External links

History and construction GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Vasari's Corridoio

Gallery

References

See also

External links

History and construction