The Torre dei Mannelli is a small tower on the southeast corner of the Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio

The Ponte Vecchio is a Medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy, noted for still having shops built along it, as was once common. Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewellers, art dealers and souvenir sellers...

 bridge in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It is the only survivor of the four tower which once defended each corner of the bridge. In 1565, the Mannelli family refused to have it altered or demolished so that the Vasari Corridor (a corridor commissioned by duke Cosimo I de' Medici to join the Uffizi

Uffizi

The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...

 with Palazzo Pitti

Palazzo Pitti

The Palazzo Pitti , in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast mainly Renaissance palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio...

 on the other side of the river) could be built in a straight line. Instead the corridor swerved round it on brackets.

The tower was damaged during World War II and was restored by architect Nello Baroni in 1944-1946. The ground floor now houses a gelateria.

Sources