The Ponte Vecchio Guardian, Gerhard Wolf

The Ponte Vecchio Guardian, Gerhard Wolf. Often the history has holes on how the events occurred and why they occurred remains hidden behind the importance of the moment. This story tells how a man was able to save a bridge, how a man was able to save the history of a city, how a man was able to change history during one of the worst periods, war, how a man saved the famous monument Ponte Vecchio.

The Ponte Vecchio Guardian, Gerhard Wolf was born in Dresden in 1896, the son of a lawyer and the last of seven brothers. After his military service he devoted himself to the study of philosophy, literature and art history. In 1927 he entered in the German diplomatic service. In 1933 he refused to the membership of the Nazi party, which he joined in 1939  to avoid personal and professional repercussions. From 1940 to 1944 he was the German consul in Florence, where he fell in love with the city and its artistic culture.

Due to his position, he had the opportunity to visit and observe closely all the most important and representative artworks of the Italian Renaissance. The War then took the fold of the decline, the Germans undermined the city’s nerve center of the city and later all the bridges over the Arno River in Florence were blown up.

Thanks to his ” diplomatic ” work, Gerard Wolf managed to save the Ponte Vecchio making only undermine the streets close to the old bridge. Thanks to his artistic soul Florence still has this wonderful bridge well known all over the world.