FLORENCE, ITALY – To discourage too many reckless tourists who don’t hesitate to climb on ledges of Ponte Santa Trinita (the Holy Trinity Bridge) in Florence, to take photos, selfies or bivouac, the municipality decided to install safety barriers. The work costed 7,500 euros.
The new barriers, however, did not like to residents, while tourists have simply used as pallet collars bench overlooking the Ponte Vecchio. An Italian tourist, from Reggio Emilia, was also fined with 160 euros for having climbed over newly installed barriers.
The protests and the uselessness of new railings have convinced the Mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, to go to see for himself what was going on. The verdict was negative, so the Mayor has asked municipal offices to study new solutions to secure the bridge.
The Ponte Santa Trinita (named for the ancient church in the nearest stretch of via de’ Tornabuoni) is a Renaissance bridge in Florence, Italy, spanning the Arno. It is the oldest elliptic arch bridge in the world, characterised by three flattened ellipses.
The bridge was constructed by the Florentine architect Bartolomeo Ammannati from 1567 to 1569, but the current version it’s not the original. In the fact, on the night between 3 and 4 of August 1944, the bridge was destroyed by retreating German troops on the advance of the British 8th Army. A Bailey bridge was built for temporary use by the Royal engineers.
The current bridge was reconstructed in 1958 with original stones raised from the Arno or taken from the same quarry, under the direction of architect Riccardo Gizdulich and engineer Emilio Brizzi with four big ledges, now used by tourists as a perfect vantage point on the old town.
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