Agnes and Ernie and the Great War

Ithought I would write a piece about the Ponte Vecchio – not the one in Florence – the one across the Brenta River in Bassano del Grappa, in Veneto. Andrea Palladio designed it back in the 16th century, and it’s very photogenic; so off we went to find out more about it.

I didn’t know that the bridge would turn out to be partially dismantled and half-covered with scaffolding, with the river dammed into a narrow channel at one end of the span, leaving a muddy makeshift island underneath the other, where two of the old piers