Once it was the butchers' quarter! I never cross the Ponte Vecchio and see these artificers in their blouses through the windows, without wondering if in any of their boy assistants is the Michelangelo, or Orcagna, or Ghirlandaio, or even Cellini, of the future, since all of those, and countless others of the Renaissance masters, began in precisely this way.
The odd thing is that one is on the Ponte Vecchio, from either end, before one knows it to be a bridge at all.

A street of sudden steepness is what it seems to be.

Not the least charming thing upon it is the masses of groundsel which have established themselves on the pent roof over the goldsmiths' shops.

Every visitor to Florence must have longed to occupy one of these little bridge houses; but I am not aware that any has done so.
One of the oldest streets in Florence must be the Via Girolami, from the Ponte Vecchio to the Uffizi, under an arch.

A turning to the left brings one to the Piazza S.Stefano, where the barn-like church of S.Stefano is entered; and close by is the Torre de' Girolami, where S.Zenobius lived.