alla Carraia Bridge

The original Ponte alla Carraia was the second crossing built over the Arno after Ponte Vecchio, hence its name “new bridge”. Also known as the “bridge of carts”, it was commissioned by the Humiliati friars of Ognissanti, Florence’s first wool-industry entrepreneurs. It diverted cart traffic towards the gate of the same name in the penultimate circuit of city walls. Rebuilt repeatedly after Arno floods, it also collapsed in 1304 under the weight of a crowd watching a spectacle on the river. The bridge rebuilt by Cosimo I de’ Medici lasted about four centuries, until retreating Nazi forces destroyed it in 1944, like all the bridges except Ponte Vecchio. The present version dates from 1951.