The city's oldest bridge replaced the stone bridge built by the Romans slightly up river. Over the centuries the bridge was destroyed by rising water levels on a number of occasions; the current structure, spanning the narrowest point of the Arno, dates only from 1345. In 1944, it was the only bridge to be spared by the Germans but was nearly swept away by flood waters in 1966 which flowed into the Uffici basements and rose as far as the Santa Croce and Duomo, transforming the city into a swamp.