Ponte Vecchio - Florence's Oldest Bridge with Shops

Ponte Vecchio (Meaning: Old Bridge) is a Medieval bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy.

Besides being one of the oldest surviving bridge in Florence it is famous for still having shops built along its. A practice which was once common in some parts of Europe.

Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewelers, art dealers and souvenir sellers.

During the second World War, the Germans had destroyed all the bridges of Florence except this bridge, reportedly on specific orders of Hitler.

Image from Flickr is by MrUllmi

Image from Flickr is by Daniele Sartori

Image from Flickr is by A E P

Image from Flickr is by Luiz Felipe Castro

Image from Flickr is by Martin Sojka

Inside views

Image from Flickr is by tbee

Image from Flickr is by angelocesare

One of the fascinating view at bridge is of several padlocks locked to various places, especially to the railing around the statue of Benvenuto Cellini, located midway along the bridge. These locks known as 'Locks of Love' are the padlocks fixed by loving couples, on to a fence or a pole or metallic chain/string alongside some wall etc at a public place, to symbolize their eternal love. The civic authorities had tried to stop this practice but have not succeeded so far, the newer lovelocks appear faster than the rate at which older ones are removed.

A detailed photo essay about these locks around the World can be seen in my post in Google Earth Community (Link).

Image from Flickr is by Eliel

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Main source of info and more info: Wikipedia