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Medieval Florence - The Bridges of the Arno

Town planning development in the thirteenth century is marked by the building of new bridges: the Ponte Nuovo (later 'alla Carraia', 1218-20), downstream from Ponte Vecchio; the Ponte Rubaconte (later 'alle Grazie', 1237), upstream; the Ponte a S. Trinita (1252), the last of the four bridges which connected the two parts of the city on either side of the river up to modem times.
All were rebuilt after the disastrous flood of 1333.
The relationship between city and river was not at all what it is today.
The stretches of practicable shoreline were few in comparison with those in which the buildings or the area belonging to them directly overlooked the river.
The first mention of a Lungarno does not appear until 1246 and the stretch on this side of the Arno between the Rubaconte and the Ponte alla Carraia was not realized until the end of the century. Along both banks the final stretches upstream and downstream were fortified.

Ponte Vecchio, which originally had five spans, was rebuilt in 1345, on the same site, but much wider and stronger with a three-span structure which it has basically maintained up to today.
Income from the rent of the shops, which numbered 43 on the old bridge, paid for the reconstruction.
Originally in wood, they were now rebuilt in stone.
In line with the spirit of urbanistic order stated in so many provisions, the shops with their arches all alike were set symmetrically on either side of the bridge, rows of crenellated buildings interrupted at the center by a small square.

At the end of the fifteenth century ownership of the shops passed to private hands and in the following period they were raised in height and projected on corbels towards the river, breaking the symmetry of the crenellated terraces.
Shops and small houses were also to be found on the Ponte Rubaconte and the Ponte a S. Trinita.
Each bridge had a small votive chapel where devout passersby could pause.
The Arno was a riverway for the transportation of materials (in particular lumber), but also provided power for the mills or served for various other industrial purposes, above all in the processing of wool and textiles (dying, washing, drying, tanning, etc.).
These industrial activities which exploited the river were mostly concentrated at the extremities of the city, upstream and downstream.

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