Ponte alle Grazie

Last updated
Ponte alle Grazie Ponte alle grazie visto dla fiume 01.JPG
Ponte alle Grazie

Ponte alle Grazie is a bridge, reconstructed after 1945, over the Arno River in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy.

History

The original bridge was called Ponte di Rubaconte after the name of the podestà Rubaconte da Mandello who had commissioned construction in 1237, making it older than the Ponte Vecchio. It was rebuilt in 1345 with nine arches, making it the longest in Florence. Giorgio Vasari attributed the design to an architect by the name of Lapo Tedesco, the architect of the Bargello. [1]

17th-century print of Bridge, with houses, looking North. Ponte delle Grazie - Ponte a Rubaconte - Firenze.jpg
17th-century print of Bridge, with houses, looking North.

In 1346, two of the arches in the Oltrarno neighborhood were filled up to extend the bank, leaving the seven arch structure seen in a 17th-century print on this page. This landfill widened the street of Piazza dei Mozzi, which leads to the Palazzo Mozzi.

Photograph of Ponte alle Grazie in 1860s, with Ponte Vecchio in background. Ponte alle grazie, 1860s.jpg
Photograph of Ponte alle Grazie in 1860s, with Ponte Vecchio in background.

On the city side was a small oratory with an icon of the Madonna Alle Grazie, which also gave the bridge its name. Structures were erected at each of the pylons, and remained there till a widening of the road, to make way for railway track. These structures initially were either chapels, once dedicated to Saints Catherine of Alexandria, Barbara, and Lawrence; or erected as huts for female hermits or Romite. These women, wishing to avoid the scandals of some of the nunneries in the city, were said to have immured themselves here, receiving their food from passersby through small slots. These hermitages were ultimately cleared and the remaining women moved to a convent near Santa Croce, renamed the Murate, or Immured. The houses became dwellings until cleared in the 1870s. [2]

Florentines crossing the rubble of the Ponte alle Grazie on August 14, 1944 Scenes in Florence, Italy, 14 August 1944 TR2289.jpg
Florentines crossing the rubble of the Ponte alle Grazie on August 14, 1944

In August 1944, the bridge was destroyed by the retreating Germans as they withdrew before the advancing Allied forces in World War II. Following the end of the War, a competition was held to create a new design for a replacement bridge. The winning design, the work of a group formed of architects including Giovanni Michelucci, Edoardo Said, Edoardo Detti, Riccardo Gizdolich and Danilo Know and an engineer, Piero Melucci, feature four slender piers with thin arches between them. The new bridge was completed in 1953. While the new design is harmonious with the surrounding city, its modern design and construction materials do not mirror the shape of the prior bridge.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ponte Vecchio</span> Bridge in Florence, Italy

The Ponte Vecchio is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno, in Florence, Italy. The only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during World War II, it is noted for the shops built along it; building shops on such bridges was once a common practice. Butchers, tanners, and farmers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewellers, art dealers, and souvenir sellers. The Ponte Vecchio's two neighbouring bridges are the Ponte Santa Trinita and the Ponte alle Grazie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renaissance architecture</span> Type of architecture

Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque architecture and neoclassical architecture. Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its innovators, the Renaissance style quickly spread to other Italian cities. The style was carried to other parts of Europe at different dates and with varying degrees of impact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pulteney Bridge</span> Bridge over the River Avon in Bath, England

Pulteney Bridge is a bridge over the River Avon in Bath, England. It was completed by 1774, and connected the city with the land of the Pulteney family which the family wished to develop. Designed by Robert Adam in a Palladian style, it is highly unusual in that it has shops built across its full span on both sides. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strait of Messina Bridge</span> Proposed suspension bridge linking Sicily to mainland Italy

The Strait of Messina Bridge is a planned 3.6-kilometre suspension bridge across the Strait of Messina, connecting Torre Faro in Sicily with Villa San Giovanni in the Italian Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ponte San Pietro</span> Comune in Lombardy, Italy

Ponte San Pietro is a comune in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy, northern Italy. It is about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast of Milan and about 7 kilometres (4 mi) west of Bergamo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palazzo Mozzi</span> Renaissance palace in Oltrarno, Florence, Italy

Palazzo Mozzi or Palazzo de' Mozzi is an early Renaissance palace, located at the end of the Piazza de' Mozzi that emerges from Ponte alle Grazie and leads straight to the palace where via San Niccolò becomes via de' Bardi in the Quartiere of Santo Spirito in the Oltrarno section of Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. The 13th-century palace housed the gallery of the highly successful antiquarian Stefano Bardini, of which the remnants were left to the commune, where they assembled the Museo Bardini or Mozzi Bardini, displaying Florentine art and artifacts up to the early Renaissance. The gardens elaborated against the hillside behind the palace were added mainly by Bardini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ponte Amerigo Vespucci</span> Bridge crossing the Arno in Florence, Italy

Ponte Amerigo Vespucci is a bridge over the Arno River in Florence, Italy and named after Florence-born explorer Amerigo Vespucci. It joins the Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci to the Lungarno Soderini. To the east is the Ponte alla Carraia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ponte Santa Trinita</span> Bridge in Florence, Italy

The Ponte Santa Trinita is a Renaissance bridge in Florence, Italy, spanning the Arno. The Ponte Santa Trìnita is the oldest elliptic arch bridge in the world, characterised by three flattened ellipses. The outside spans each measure 29 m (95 ft) with the centre span being 32 m (105 ft) in length. The two neighbouring bridges are the Ponte Vecchio, to the east, and the Ponte alla Carraia to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ponte di Tiberio (Rimini)</span> Roman bridge in Rimini, Italy

The Bridge of Tiberius, historically also the Bridge of Augustus or the Bridge of Saint Julian, is a Roman bridge in Rimini, in the region of Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loggia del Bigallo</span>

The Loggia del Bigallo is a late Gothic building in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. It stands at the corner of Piazza San Giovanni and via Calzaioli; tradition holds the site near the Baptistry of Florence was donated by a benefactor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ponte alla Carraia</span> Bridge in Florence, Italy

The Ponte alla Carraia is a five-arched bridge spanning the River Arno and linking the district of Oltrarno to the rest of the city of Florence, Italy. To the west is a weir, the Pescaia di Santa Rosa, and the Ponte Amerigo Vespucci, and to the east is the Ponte Santa Trinita. The piazzas on either bank are the Piazza Nazario Sauro (south) and the Piazza Carlo Goldoni (north). At the northernmost column of the bridge a family of coypus live in a dam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ponte Salario</span> Bridge in Rome, Italy

The Ponte Salario, also called Ponte Salaro during the Middle Ages, is a road bridge in Rome, Italy, whose origins date back to the Roman period. In antiquity, it lay outside the city limits, 3 km north of the Porta Collina, at the point where the Via Salaria crossed the Aniene, a tributary of the Tiber. The visible side arches are assumed to originate from the first stone structure built during the 1st century BC.

Giovanni Battista Magnani was an Italian architect working entirely in Parma in the first half of the 17th century. He was the most successful of a family of masons and architects that included his father Nicostrato and his son Carlo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palazzo Gondi</span>

Palazzo Gondi is a palace in Florence, Italy, located a block from Piazza della Signoria. It was built in 1490 under design by Giuliano da Sangallo, who was inspired by other major works of stately buildings in the city, such as Palazzo Medici and Palazzo Strozzi. Among the elements borrowed from these earlier works are the cube-shape set around a central courtyard, the ashlar sloping on each of three floors, and the arched windows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alberti family</span> Florentine politics

The Alberti family was a major political and noble family in Florence, allies of the Medicis, with trading agencies across Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Mapelli Mozzi</span> Villa in Ponte San Pietro, Italy

Villa Mapelli Mozzi, also known as Villa Mozzi or Villa Mapelli, is a large rural neoclassical-style palace in Locate Bergamasco, a frazione of Ponte San Pietro, which is located in the province of Bergamo, northern Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palazzo Nasi</span>

The Palazzo Nasi, also known as the Palazzo Torrigiani or Palazzo Scarlatti, is a palace located at Piazza de' Mozzi 4, down the street where the Ponte alle Grazie enters the Oltrarno, in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. Another Palazzo Torrigiani Del Nero, with a Mannerist or late-Renaissance-style facade stands closer to the river. Both palaces also once belonged to the Nasi. The palace is a few steps from the Palazzo Mozzi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palazzo Torrigiani Del Nero</span>

The Palazzo Torrigiani Del Nero is a Renaissance-style palace located at Piazza de' Mozzi 5, down the street where the Ponte alle Grazie enters the Oltrarno in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. Another Palazzo Torrigiani stands alongside, the smaller Palazzo Nasi. Both palaces also once belonged to the Nasi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canal Grande (Trieste)</span>

The Canal Grande is a navigable canal located in the heart of the Borgo Teresiano, in the very center of the city of Trieste, approximately halfway between the railway station and Piazza Unità d'Italia. The Canal Grande was a key element of the new urban plan that led to the construction of Borgo Teresiano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lungarno Torrigiani</span>

Lungarno Torrigiani is the stretch of the south bank of the Arno river in Florence that goes from Via de 'Bardi to the Ponte alle Grazie. From the Lungarno, there's an extraordinary view of the Uffizi, the Vasari Corridor and Ponte Vecchio.

References

43°45′59″N11°15′30″E / 43.766286°N 11.258277°E / 43.766286; 11.258277