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South Of The River
Visitors to Florence might perceive the Arno as merely a brief interruption in the urban fabric, but Florentines talk as though a ravine divided their city. North of the river is Arno di quà (”over here”), while the south side is Arno di là (”over there”), also known as the Oltrarno , literally “Beyond the Arno”. Though traditionally an artisans’ quarter, the Oltrarno has always contained prosperous enclaves, and many of the ruling families chose to settle in this area. Nowadays some of the city’s swankiest shops line Borgo San Jacopo, while the windows of Via Maggio are an amazing display of palatial furnishings. The direct route from the city centre to the heart of Oltrarno crosses the river on the Ponte Vecchio , the only bridge not mined by the retreating Nazis in 1944. Built in 1345 to replace an ancient wooden bridge, the bustling thoroughfare has always been loaded with shops propped over the water. Up until the sixteenth century, butchers, fishmongers and tanners occupied the bridge, but in 1565 the Medici had the Corridoio Vasariano constructed over the arcades as a private passageway between the Palazzo Vecchio and the Palazzo Pitti. For a generation, the noble nostrils suffered the stench rising from the bridge, until in 1593 Ferdinando I ejected the butchers and installed goldsmiths instead. Today, still replete with jewellery firms, the bridge is crammed with sightseers and big-spending shoppers during the day, and also remains busy after the shutters come down, when street traders set out their stalls and the local lads hang around the bust of Cellini.
Santa Felìcita , at the southern end of the bridge, is worth a visit (Mon-Sat 9am-noon & 3-6pm, Sun 10-11am & noon-1pm) for the paintings by Pontormo in the Cappella Capponi, just inside the door on the right. His weirdly erotic Deposition is one of the masterworks of Florentine Mannerism, its rough colours slicing through the chapel’s gloom. There’s no sign of any standard imagery, or even the Cross: instead, androgynous figures clad in billows of drapery - metallic blue, puce green and bubblegum pink - bear the lifeless body of Christ like a mournful trophy, backed only by a solitary, ghostly cloud.
