The
Ponte Santa Trìnita (
Italian for
Holy Trinity Bridge, named for the ancient church in the nearest stretch of
via de' Tornabuoni) is a
Renaissance bridge in
Florence,
Italy, spanning the
Arno. The Ponte Santa Trìnita is the oldest elliptic
arch bridge in the world, characterised by three flattened ellipses. The outside spans each measure 29 m (95 ft) with the centre span being 32 m (105 ft) in length.
[1] The two neighbouring bridges are the
Ponte Vecchio, to the east, and the
Ponte alla Carraia to the west.
The bridge was constructed by the Florentine architect
Bartolomeo Ammannati from 1567 to 1569. Its site, downstream of the Ponte Vecchio,
[2] is a major link in the medieval street plan of Florence, which has been bridged at this site since the 13th century.
[3] The wooden bridge of 1252 was swept away in a flood seven years later and was rebuilt in stone; this structure was in turn destroyed by a flood in 1333. The bridge of five arches constructed by
Taddeo Gaddi was also destroyed in the flood of 1557, which occasioned Ammannati's replacement. Four ornamental statues of the Seasons were added to the bridge in 1608, as part of the wedding celebrations of
Cosimo II de' Medici with
Maria Magdalena of Austria:
Spring by
Pietro Francavilla,
Summer and
Autumn by
Giovanni Caccini, and
Winter by
Taddeo Landini.
Bailey bridge built on the piers of the original Ponte Santa Trinita.
On the night between 3-4 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 bridge was reconstructed in 1958 with original stones raised from the Arno
[4] or taken from the same quarry of
Boboli gardens, under the direction of architect
Riccardo Gizdulich, who examined florentine archives, and engineer
Emilio Brizzi.
[5] The missing head of
Primavera (
Spring) was recovered from the bed of the Arno in October 1961.