Looking downstream from the wonderful terrace offered by the Ponte Vecchio, you can admire one of the most
beautiful and elegant Italian bridges: the Bridge of Santa Trinita.
Dedicated to the Holy Trinity the bridge was built in 1252,
patronized by the Frescobaldi family who needed a bridge connecting
the right side of the river with the left side where they had their
residences.
The bridge was swept away many times by
floods of the Arno and always rebuilt.
Its actual and last shape follows the
project realized by Bartolomeo Ammannati in 1567. This the oldest
elliptical arch bridge in the world and it seems that the Ammannati
asked suggestions to Michelangelo who projected the three modern
parabolic arches, the so called catenary curves. Upside down, this is
the curve assumed by a chain under its own weight when supported
only at its ends. This is not only an elegant shape which anticipates
the baroque trends, but also has a strong static resistance.
The bridge is made in pietra forte, a
golden stone used for many palaces and constructions in Florence and
its pillars of support are carved as a ship's bow, sharp and slim in
order to dodge the logs carried by the floads.
Four allegoric sculptures stands at the
two ends of the bridge and represent the four seasons. These were not
part of the original project but were realized by different
sculptors and put later on the bridge.
The bridge was destroyed by the Germans
during the second World war and re built starting from 1952.
This was a big and affectionate
restoration rather than a re-building. The Florentines gave a
symbolic contribute by buying a stone or a brick, so that they
managed to finance one third of the cost! Hundreds of small and big
fragmented pieces found in the neighborhood of the bridge were
examined. Think that one of the stones of the bridge was found in the
Church of Carmine, on the other side of the Arno, hundreds of meters
from the bridge in the center of the San Frediano area.
Stones, marble curls, pilasters and
profiles, gray stone sheets, fragments of the body of the
Four Seasons sculptures were fished out of the river. Only one
sculpture resulted horribly disfigured: Spring, which was found
without the head and an arm.
This is the woman on the right side of
the river who holds a baskets full of flowers and fruits. Carved by
Pietro Francavilla for the gardens of the Acciaoli family who had
their residences in the area, she was then set on the bridge together
with the others sculptures. If you look at it carefully she is not
exactly beautiful (Mr. Francavilla may excuse me if I say that), but it is a symbol for the city of Florence with a very important and strong meaning
for the population. You can still see the injury between the bust and
the neck, the exact point of the traumatic detachment of the head
from the body.
After the new bridge's inauguration on
May 16th 1958 the missing head of the Spring was the
protagonist of true and false stories about its finding. Witnesses
told they had seen a soldier of the Allied Forces who digging amongst
the ruins near the river, had found and stolen the head.
An advertisement with photos said “Have
you ever seen this woman? She is about 350 years old, marble white
skin, 20 pounds of weight. 3000 Dollars reward to the person who will
report about her.” A famous American pens producer company
published this announcement in almost half of the world but nobody
answered.
In the sharp air of the morning of
October 6th 1961 Timoteo Lucaroni from Piacenza was digging the river's shore with a drag. About 100 meter from the bridge on the right
side he hit something,
maybe a big stone. He set down the stuff and together with sand
and gravel he saw a round white stone rolling down: the head
of the Spring!
The news run along the Arno River,
through the narrow streets of the city arrived to Palazzo Vecchio,
entering inside the Salone dei Cinquecento and exploded on the
newspapers of the world. The head was exposed in the courtyard of
Palazzo Vecchio and received the homage of the Florentines who passed
in front of it deeply moved as pilgrims in front of a relic.
The head of the Spring had been restored and put at its original place with a solemn ceremony, but the wound
of the detachments is still visible and always alive in our memories.
Freely adapted and translated from:
Pierluigi Bacci "Firenze, Segreti, storie, misteri, curiosità" Angelo Pontecorboli Editore
Photo by Sailko
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