Florence - Ponte Vecchio & Fontana del Porcellina
Day 11, 12 & 13 - Explore Florence Ponte Vecchio - Old Bridge "Dante was standing near the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge that crosses the Arno River in Florence. It was just before 1300. Dante saw Beatrice standing on the bridge. He was a young man, she even younger, and that vision contained the whole of eternity for him. Dante did not speak to her and saw her very little. And then Beatrice died, carried off by plague. Dante was stricken with the loss of his vision. She was the connection between his soul and Heaven itself, and from it the Divine Comedy was born. Six hundred fifty years later, during World War II, the Americans were chasing the German army up the Italian Peninsula. The Germans were blowing up everything that aided the progression of the American army, including the bridges across the Arno River. But no one would blow up the Ponte Vecchio because Beatrice had stood on it and Dante had written about her. So the German commandant made radio contact wi