What was it called when they first built it?

Probably just the bridge?

During the 1200s the population and business growth made it necessary that the two sides of the river were better linked. That first bridge was Called Ponte Vecchio (“Old Bridge”) because in 1220 the town council built a Ponte Nuovo (“New Bridge”), today called Ponte alla Carraia, and a third bridge called Ponte alle Grazie. In 1252 a fourth bridge was built: it was made of stone and was called Ponte Santa Trinita.
During the 13th century many shops were built over the Ponte Vecchio, wooden as on the Ponte alle Grazie: the shops’ tenants were butchers (“beccai”), bag makers, fishmongers and greengrocers that made this place into a specialized marked.
All the bridges were more or less severely damaged by the floods that regularly hit Florence.
Even though it was situated in the stretch that was narrowest, where water was at its most violent and under pressure, the Ponte Vecchio Old Bridge withstood the huge floods of October 1st, 1269 December 15th 1282, and December 5th 1288. The shopkeepers had to begin their activities all over again by themselves: the town council had so resolved. Thank Goodness, they gave the shopkeepers permission to keep their shops for eight years without paying the rent. But Nature scoffed the wretched shopkeepers again, and two fires and a new flood on the 4th of November 1333 caused all the four bridges over the Arno to collapse.

Did you know things change over the course of 800 years!

Wonder what their version of the white faced pick pockets was?

Makes sense - those are the businesses that have the most need for waste disposal. Much better to be able to toss your used dye, urine, blood, etc out a convenent hole in the floor and forget about it...

The Wehrmacht commander in charge of blowing all the bridges refused the order for this one bridge.

Also interesting fact about the bridge

> During World War II, the Ponte Vecchio was not destroyed by the German army during their retreat at the advance of the British 8th Army on 4 August 1944, unlike all the other bridges in Florence.[12][13] This was, according to many locals and tour guides, because of an express order by Hitler.[14][15][16] Access to the Ponte Vecchio was, however, obstructed by the destruction of the buildings at both ends of the bridge, which have since been rebuilt using a combination of original and modern designs.

It's more like it's occupied by illegal street merchants aggressively selling fakes to tourists these days.

Surprised the idea of commercial structures on bridges hasn't been revived. Seems like this is some potentially valuable real estate.

Provided safe for shoppers.