View of the Arno River and Ponte Vecchio, taken from a closed window ih the Gallery Degli Uffizi

The Ponte Vecchio is one of Florence’s landmarks and probably the most photographed bridge in the city.The most famous bridge in the City was built at the narrowest part of the Arno. It’s distinguished as being the only remaining bridge to have houses and shops on it. In part this is because something important was built on top of those: the Vasari Corridor. This secret passageway built by Vasari for Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1565 links the Palazzo Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti. In 1593, the jewelry stores that tourists so love were brought to the bridge on command of Ferdinando, the Medici heir who thought that the previous tenants – butchers – smelled too bad in his corridor.