Ponte Vecchio, Florence

Best known of all of Florence's treasures, this glorious bridge was the only one of six spared by the retreating Germans on August 4, 1944. Over the centuries flooding unfortunately took its toll; few traces of the 10th-century bridge remain. Today's bridge, built in 1345, was filled with butcher's shops which would routinely discard the carcasses into the Arno causing quite a stench. Grand Duke Fernandino I issued an edict to replace the butchers with goldsmiths to eradicate the smell and gentrify royalty's route to Palazzo Pitti, reached via the Vasari Corridor that passes over the bridge. The tradition of padlocking things to the statue of Benvenuto Cellini, often practiced by lovers who padlock a lock to the gate of the statue and toss the key into the river, faces a fine of EUR 50!