Famous Bridges of Venice
Walking tour of Venice was more like crossing bridges, one after another. These bridges are small, yet they are the lifelines of the city. Every wrong turn we took during our walks there, we ended up crossing more cute little bridges. They are called as Ponte.
We always paused either to see the gondolas going underneath. Sometimes to take a shot of another bridge from one bridge, or see the Grand Canal at a distance. It never tired us.
Read more: One Day in Venice
Venice: City of Bridges
Many of the bridges embody the beauty and history of this fascinating photographic. While some are of historical importance, some for the scenic views they offer, some purely as architectural wonder and others as engineering marvels. Interesting to note here that the bridges of Venice were initially made of wood, but now some of them have been rebuilt with stone or metal. Nevertheless they still retain the charm of olden times!
Early settlers of Venice in a bid to make the islands of lagoons fit for habitation drained the areas of the lagoon. They dug canals and shore up the banks to prepare them for building their houses. Venice is thus known by the names: City of Canals and The Floating City.
The Grand Canal, the symbol of Venice has four bridges along its entire length: the Ponte degli Scalzi, the Ponte dell’ Accademia, the Ponte di Costituzione and the Ponti di Rialto. How many of these four have you crossed?
410 Bridges of Venice
Lonely Planet mentions: Venice is built on 117 small islands and has some 150 canals and 410 bridges.
Whenever I see these two shots of the boat emerging from underneath one of the bridges I was standing, the same surprise comes flooding back into my mind. The boat barely managed to fit in the narrow canal and yet how smoothly it was cruising.
… and it emerged from other side…
What if another boat appeared from the opposite side at the same time? The ‘what if’ remained as ‘what if’. I never came across such a scene of traffic jam in the narrow canals, at least not the times on those three days I crossed those bridges. Could they be ‘one way’ canals?
410 little bridges, as I read that before departing for Venice, I was finding it hard to visualize one single city with so many bridges. Can it be true? It was true!
10 Popular Bridges of Venice
There are famous bridges, famous for some unusual event and there are popular bridges, they may not be famous but definitely are popular. People flock around them. While I knew seeing all 410 bridges was not going to be possible I had intended to see at the popular ones. But lack of time I could see only 5 out of these 10. Make a note of these and try and hunt them down if you have time enough in Venice.
Accademia Bridge in Venice
It is an elegant wooden bridge, one of the four over the Grand Canal. It is also called Ponte dell’ Accademia.
Rialto Bridge Venice
It is the oldest bridge across Grand Canal of Venice. The bridge is one among the 10 Popular Bridges in Venice as an architectural and engineering achievement of the Renaissance. See the photo essay here: Rialto Bridge
Ponte dei Scalzi Venice
This bridge was completed in 1934, making it one of the more recent bridge additions in Venice. Scalzi’ means ‘barefoot’, and refers to an order of barefoot monks who were based at the nearby Church of Santa Maria de Nazareth. Read more: Scalzi Bridge.
Canonica Bridge
It crosses the canal, Rio de la Canonica, bridging a gap which is 10.68 meters. This bridge is popular because you can see the Bridge of Sighs from here. You can take a gondola ride to this ponte for a good picture of Bridge of Sighs.
Ponte del Vin
A bridge named after wine! Yes and it can happen only in Venice. Boats carrying wine used to anchor near this bridge and thus got the name: Vin. It’s a stone bridge with an ornate balustrade, again popular for the view of St Mark’s basin and life on the lagoon.
Ponte della Paglia
Almost every tourist to Venice sets foot on this but sadly no one pays attention to this cute ponte: Straw Bridge. After wine we have a bridge in Venice named after straw. It is said boats filled with straw that passed by this bridge. This was a frequent occurrence several centuries back when horses and donkeys were used as transport mode.
The bridge exists from 1360, it got its present avatar since 1847. It has to be featured in list of 10 Popular Bridges of Venice. Check some pictures: View from Bridge of Sighs.
Bridge of Sighs Venice
Also called the Ponte di Sospiri, it connects the interrogation room of Doge’s Palace to the prisons. The latticed windows gave the prisoners their last sight of freedom!
Ponte delle Guglie Venice
It is one of two bridges in Venice, Italy, to span the Cannaregio Canal. It is also reputed to be the only bridge in Venice adorned with spires, thus came to be called as Bridge of Spires.
Ponte dei Pugni Venice
Popular as Bridge of Fists, it takes its name from an ancient custom in Venice: fist fights that took place on the bridge. The custom started in those days when there was no railing at the edges of the bridge. The winner of the fist fight would throw the loser in to cold dirty canal.
The custom has been abolished since September 1705. Nearest landmark is Church of San Barnaba – The Library of Indiana Jones.
Ponte delle Tette Venice
It meant Bridge of Tits! Till 18th century this bridge was specifically for the use by prostitutes. These women were encouraged to stand topless on the bridge and in nearby windows to entice and convert suspected homosexuals (gay men).
Storto Bridge Venice
This is not a single bridge but refers to all bridges that are crooked, or distorted and usually stretch across a canal at an angle. The streets of Venice have come up in a haphazard manner connecting the bits of land and they don’t follow any sort of grid pattern. The mazes of walkways don’t meet up at straight angles, so bridge builders connected them at angles. Quite a few bridges in Venice have come up in this manner – at least 6 of them. They are named ‘Ponte Storto’.
Did you like this list of popular bridges of Venice?
If you have liked this travel blog on Bridges of Venice consider saving it for planning a walking tour to see these bridges of Venice. Do you like bridges? How many different types of bridges have you seen? Read more from my travels:
10 Interesting Facts of Vivekananda Setu in Kolkata
Chapel Bridge Lucerne
Prakkasam Barrage Vijayawada
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That's an interesting point u made there…and i didn't know the canals were so narrow over there
Oh! What a thought! "Could they be one way canals?" Could they be?
Wow! Amazing… I never had heard about it.
I actually lost count of the bridges I saw and crossed there Kiran. 🙂
Wow, so many bridges. How many did you see?
informative post with beautiful pictures.
Whoa! 401 bridges in one city.. now all the more reason to visit this beauty.
So many places to visit!
Even I'll wonder 'What if' in Venice 🙂
This time I liked your write up more than the photos..you've expressed the feeling nicely…
Loved it:)
Venice can never fail anyone. 🙂
So you been to Venice….how ws the experience
Amazing fact Indrani… Lovely captures as well..
Oh my! That's a lot of bridges in a single city!
Indeed amazing!
these shots are just wonderful. Wow..
I'm following you.
Have a great day!
Venice = Kerala 🙂
Wow… it looks like a precarious move around that corner for sure. Great shots.
Wow, that looks like abig boat for a small space. Great capture!
I knew there were a lot of canals, but I had imagined them to be straight… Boy, was I ever wrong! I am amazed that boat could fit around the corner!
Great photos.That's a few bridges there. It's great to know how many bridges they have at venice.
How they navigate is mystifying! Neat shots.
Thanks for the visit!
You got really nice photographs here!
Great photos…but I really liked most, the history and background of it all that you shared.
Lovely Venice!
Watery Wednesday
Nice view from the bridge.
How well they seem to navigate the narrow canal. Lovely pictures
Great captures!
Have a nice week.
Oh that is what you said too 🙂
(I am a slow reader)
I think Paris has some 350 bridges. But Paris is probably bigger than Venice, is it not? I wonder if the canals are one way traffic… chaos seems inevitable otherwise!
It´s a wonderful bridge!
I love Venise
Best regards from Argentina
Elisa
Great captures – what an amazing place Venice is!
manoeuvring those gondolas looks very tricky through those sharpo turns! I wonder if all 410 bridges are high enough for the gondoliers to go under?
i admire the skill of these boatmen! and 410 bridges! wow! amazing shots.
Your thinking process is just like me. And your photos reminded me of my trip there.
Thanks. 🙂
Below is my url.
Nisha
Yikes, the boat looks like it would barely turn the corner in that narrow space. 🙂
wow!! 410 bridges??? did you count to see how many u actually saw????
Unusual shots of Venezia but very nice ones!
Must be one way "streets", otherwise there would be too much loud italian swearwords that would be too much for all the other people.
Nice bridge views… I share your amazement at how they can glide through those narrow canals.
The gondoliers are clearly quite skilled at guiding their craft.
410! That's a lot of bridges!
What a great angle in these photos. «Louis» thanks you for your contributions to Sunday Bridges.
Thanks for sharing these beautiful memories from this dream city.
Venice is a wonderful and romantic place indeed.
Beautiful photos of the narrow canals. They are probably one way.
Lovely! Although I had the same thought as you did when I saw how narrow that canal was…maybe it is one way 😀
Hello world traveler,
Did you see James Bond when you were there LOL?
I have been waiting for this post about the small and little known bridges 🙂 I liked them the best!
And nodding my head at "every wrong turn…" – the place is so full of surprises, a treasure house waiting to be discovered if one gets around on foot
Thanks for bringing back some lovely memories 🙂
Very interesting write-up. Nice photos too!
Make me wanna visit Venice soon!
Interesting shots.
Sydney – City and Suburbs