Ponte Vec­chio is the old­est bridge in the city. The Romans also built a cross­ing over the Arno in this place, and the stone bridge was built in 1345. Imme­di­ate­ly after con­struc­tion, shops were locat­ed on the bridge: at first there were butch­ers who threw waste into the Arno, and fish­er­men who caught fish from the bridge. In the 16th cen­tu­ry, both were replaced by gold­smiths, and Ponte Vec­chio became a famous gold trad­ing cen­ter. On the bridge there is a bust of the famous sculp­tor and jew­el­er Ben­venu­to Celli­ni. In 1565, over the bridge, Vasari built a cor­ri­dor con­nect­ing the Palaz­zo Vec­chio and Pit­ti: Cosi­mo de’ Medici want­ed to calm­ly pass from one palace to anoth­er with­out show­ing him­self to the peo­ple. This made the Ponte Vec­chio one of only two known bridges to be built, after the Rial­to Bridge in Venice.