Bridge sights in Venice
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Ponte di Calatrava
Modern Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s 2008 bridge over the Grand Canal between Santo Croce and Cannaregio has been called many things: a fish tail, a glass-and-steel fantasy, unnecessary, overdue, pleasingly streamlined and displeasingly wheelchair inaccessible. Its detractors point out that its costs surpassed triple the original 2001 estimate, and engineers are still working to correct a 4cm tolerance to ensure its stability. Even among its supporters, there is disagreement. Some claim the bridge is best seen at night, when it looks from afar like a meteoric streak of light across the Grand Canal; and others prefer it by day, when you can appreciate the red ribb…
reviewed
-
B
Ponte dell'Accademia
The wooden Ponte dell’Accademia, with a high arch like a cat’s back, was built in 1933 as a temporary replacement for an 1854 iron bridge, but it remains a beloved landmark. Engineer Eugenio Miozzi moved onto bigger Fascist monuments such as the Lido casino and the Ponte della Libertà bridge to the mainland, but none has stood the test of time quite like this elegant little footbridge. Renovations scheduled to begin in 2010/11 are long overdue, but the city is quick to reassure the bridge’s ardent admirers that changes will be overwhelmingly structural.
One of the most common images from Venice is the view of the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute from this spot. T…
reviewed
-
C
Ponte di Rialto
An amazing feat of engineering in its day, Antonio da Ponte’s 1592 marble bridge was for centuries the only land link across the Grand Canal. The construction cost 250,000 gold ducats, a staggering sum that puts cost overruns for the new Calatrava bridge into perspective. Now that the Rialto is clogged with kiosks and foot-traffic jams, locals go out of their way to avoid it, or zip up the less scenic northern side of the bridge. The southern side faces San Marco, and when crowds of shutterbugs and tour groups clear out around sunset, it offers a romantic long view of gondolas pulling up to Grand Canal palazzi, at striped moorings that look like floating barber poles.
reviewed
-
D
Ponte delle Tette
‘Tits Bridge’ got its name in the late 15th century, when neighbourhood prostitutes were encouraged to display their wares in windows instead of taking their marketing campaigns to the streets. Crossing over the bridge, you’ll reach Rio Terà delle Carampane, named after a noble family’s house (Ca’ Rampani) that became notorious as a meeting place for local streetwalkers, who to this day are known as carampane. Instead of hanging out in windows, more-ambitious working girls might be found studying: for educated conversation, courtesans might charge 60 times the basic rates of the average carampane.
reviewed
