Venice, National Artistic Exhibition, 1887;
Florence, Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, 1887;
Bologna, Great Emilian Exhibition, 1887/88, Luigi Gioli;
Milan, Triennial Exhibition of Fine Arts, 1891, no. 238

Kunstchronik, Wochenschrift fur Kunst und Kunstgewerbe , 1887/88, 2 February, n. 17, p. 267;
A. De Gubernatis, Dizionario degli Artisti Italiani Viventi. Pittori, scultori e architetti, Florence, 1889, p. 231;
A. De Gubernatis, iccolo Dizionario dei Contemporanei Italiani, Rome, 1895, p. 458;
G. Biagi, Chi è? Annuario biografico italiano, Florence, 1908, p. 143;
E. Matucci, I macchiaioli di Renato Fucini, Florence, 1985, p. 94;
AM Comanducci, Dizionario illustrato dei pittori, disegnatori e incisori italiani moderni e contemporanei, Milan, 1962, ad vocem

Considered by critics to be Luigi Gioli's masterpiece, the first to speak of it with enthusiastic tones was Luigi Chirtani, who saw it exhibited for the first time in Venice in 1887, the year of its creation, and then in Bologna in the same period. The severe critic reported a review so mimetic that it was in turn immortalized in the pages of the famous De Gubernatis repertoire: "Gioli gains further in the already high opinion that is had of his talent with a Ponte alla Carraia , on which noble carriages, plebeian carts, ladies and common people meet on a rainy day. Even for those who remember similar paintings by De Nittis, this one by Gioli stands up and holds itself high for its merits of strength in refinement and remains the best painting he sent to this Exhibition". The comparison with De Nittis, rather than with the Macchiaioli tradition, is not a mere suggestion; Florence is, in fact, described as a modern Paris, with passers-by looming over the scene described in an incredibly twentieth-century style, which contrasts with the precision with which Gioli lingers on the horses. We must not forget the influence exerted by his brother Francesco, who in these years distances himself from the naturalism of Tuscan tradition towards an impressionist brushstroke that projects the Giolis towards an international stage.