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The Ponte Vecchio, literally Old Bridge, is a famous medieval bridge over the Arno, in Florence, Italy, noted for having shops (mainly jewelers) built along it.
Presumably first erected in Roman times, it was originally made of wood. After being destroyed by a flood in 1333 it was rebuilt in 1345, this time in stone.
It has always hosted shops and merchants (legend says this was originally due to a tax exemption), which displayed their goods on a table after authorisation of the Bargello (a sort of a lord mayor, a magistrate and a police authority).
It is said that the economic concept of bankruptcy originated here: when a merchant could not pay his debts, the table on which he exposed (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 more to anyone.
In order to connect Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti, in 1565 Cosimo I de Medici required Giorgio VasariGiorgio Vasari ( Arezzo, Tuscany July 3, 1511 Florence, June 27, 1574) was an Italian painter and architect, mainly known for his famous biographies of Italian artists. At a very early age he became a pupil of Guglielmo da Marsiglia, a very skilful painte to build the famous "corridor", and to enforce the prestige of the place, in 1593Events May 18 Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe. July 25 King Henry IV of France returns to Catholicism, and is recognized as King in most of France. Outbreak of the Long War in Hungary between he prohibited butchers to have their banche on the bridge, which were then immediately replaced by gold merchants' ones. The corporative association of butchers had occupied alone the bridge since 1442Events The community of Rauma, Finland was granted its town rights. Vlad II Dracul is replaced as ruler of Wallachia by Mircea. Births April 28 King Edward IV of England Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan Deaths 1442..
During World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough, the Ponte Vecchio was not destroyed by Germans during their retreat of August 4August 4 is the 216th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (217th in leap years), with 149 days remaining. Events 1500-1899 1578 Battle of Al Kasr al Kebir Moroccans defeat Portuguese. King Sebastian of Portugal is defeated and killed in North Africa, 1944Events World War II January January 4 The Battle of Monte Cassino begins. January 5 Murder of Danish playwright Kaj Munck January 17 British forces, in Italy, cross the Garigliano River. January 20 The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin;, while all the other bridges were (the access to Ponte Vecchio was however closed by destroying the buildings on the two ends). This was allegedly because of an express order by Hitler.
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