Ponte alla Carraia, Medieval road bridge over Arno River, Florence, Italy
Ponte alla Carraia is a stone road bridge spanning the Arno River in Florence with five arches and a width of about 14 meters. It carries daily pedestrian and vehicle traffic between the Oltrarno district and the city center.
The original bridge was built in 1218 as a wooden structure called Ponte Nuovo. After several destructions from floods, it was rebuilt multiple times, with the current stone version completed in 1952.
The bridge served as a launching point for traditional fireworks during the celebrations of St. John's Day until the early nineteenth century.
You can easily reach the bridge on foot, as it sits between Lungarno Guicciardini and Lungarno Soderini and is part of the city traffic system. Walking across it is straightforward, with open views of the river and the embankments along the way.
A family of coypus, large water-dwelling rodents, has made a home near the northernmost column of the bridge in a small dam. This unexpected wildlife is a rare sight in an urban setting and shows how wild animals find space in the city.
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