Florence is one of the loveliest Italian cities worth visiting. For the entire place is adorned with monumental and splendid structures as well as artworks such as
paintings and sculptures that represent the spirit of various artists from different epochs. When you visit Florence or Firenze, you shouldn't miss to visit any of its art galleries in order to see the famous Italian artworks such as the paintings of Botticelli and Raphael or the sculptures of Michelangelo particularly his "David."
Yet as you let yourself be enchanted by the city's art and marble buildings, you should not forget to visit the Ponte Vecchio across the Arno River. The location where the bridge is built is actually the place where the riverbed is narrowest. The bridge is the oldest of its kind in Florence and it is one of the
oldest structures in the city to have survived the mines of the Nazis during the World War II.
The first and oldest structures of
Ponte Vecchio were made of wood that were constantly replaced when the river overflowed and destroyed them. Finally, a stone bridge was constructed over the river in 1345 by Neri di Fioravante. Under the Medici clan, the bridge was reserved for the goldsmiths who opened their shops there.
