Rialto Bridge & Fondaco dei Tedeschi: The Merchant Apex

Why is it significant?

Climb to the central high arch of the Rialto Bridge and lean over the stone balustrade, taking in the Grand Canal unfolding below: striped mooring poles, black gondolas rocking in the wash, and vaporetti churning white foam.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Climb to the central high arch of the Rialto Bridge and lean over the stone balustrade, taking in the Grand Canal unfolding below: striped mooring poles, black gondolas rocking in the wash, and vaporetti churning white foam. Until the nineteenth century, this twenty-eight-meter stone span was the only bridge crossing the Grand Canal in all of Venice!

Designed by architect Antonio da Ponte—whose surname literally means of the bridge—the span was completed in fifteen ninety-one to replace an earlier wooden drawbridge that had collapsed under the weight of crowds watching a wedding parade. Critics predicted the heavy stone arch would immediately collapse into the mud, but it has stood rock solid for over four centuries, supported by twelve thousand submerged oak piles driven into the lagoon floor.

Look at the massive palatial building on the northern foot of the bridge: that is the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, the trading headquarters where German and northern European merchants lived and stored spices, wool, and silver. In the sixteenth century, Titian and Giorgione painted its entire canal facade with brilliant outdoor frescoes!

Walk down into Cannaregio toward the golden facade of Ca' d'Oro.