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19 April 2024Not a bridge too far
Two-year project to restore Florence's Ponte Vecchio.
Words: Dan Hayes
A two-year restoration project aims to return Florence’s landmark Ponte Vecchio to its former glories.
The €2 million restoration, financed jointly by city authorities and the Marchesi Antinori winery, will include work to update and clean the famous medieval structure.
Measuring around 30m and spanning a relatively narrow section of the River Arno, the pedestrian bridge includes numerous brightly coloured buildings and an upper gallery that links the Uffizi Gallery and the Pitti Palace.
Florence’s mayor, Dario Nardella, said: “This is a historic project because Ponte Vecchio has never had a restoration intervention of this technical complexity. In the end we will have an even more beautiful bridge than we are used to seeing.”
Planned works, which are scheduled to begin in October, will include strengthening the bridge’s stonework, upgrading previously repaired joints and removing algae, moss and chemical deposits left behind by the river water.
Winemakers Marchesi Antinori, whose historical links with the Chianti Classico region stretch back generations, will provide around half of the cash required for the project.
The group’s president, Piero Antinori, the 25th generation to run the winery, said: “Our family history has always been inextricably linked to Florence since the 13th century. The city has given us so much over the centuries, which is why it is a pleasure for us to be able to be part of this important project.”
Italy has increasingly embraced the concept of private donors chipping in for the restoration of historic monuments as a consequence of public funding cuts.
In 2011, luxury leather goods company Tod’s contributed €25 million for the restoration of Rome’s Colosseum while, in 2013, clothing giant Diesel paid €5m to help fund restoration of the Rialto Bridge in Venice.