Legend has it that it was a simple bridge of boats, curiously called "Quartarolo - explains the Venetian art critic Giulio Lorenzetti in the guide Venice and its estuary - from the small coin that was spent to cross it ". We were towards the end of the XNUMXth century, in Rialto, one of the oldest areas of the city of Venice. "Where - it is always Lorenzetti who enlightens us - from the earliest times Venetian life and trade took place with greater intensity". And where the Grand Canal divided two important banks, “Citra et ultra Canalem”. A connection was needed to connect the two large areas of the city and, at the time, this was the only stable and walkable connection in an urban context made up of islands and where people moved mainly by boat.
From wooden bridges to the current one in Istrian stone
A little less than a thousand years have passed since then. Under the Rialto Bridge the water of the Canalazzo flows calmly and rich in history. It has a lot to tell because there are many events linked to the heart of the Venetian historic center.
Starting with that conspiracy of Bajamonte Tiepolo, at the beginning of 1300. The conspirators, in retreat, broke the poles that supported the wooden structure of the time to take time and cover their backs by blocking the way to the doge's troops. Still to remain in the historical context, in 1444 the Marchesa di Ferrara, wife of Leonello d'Este. Under the crowd that had come to see the procession and the marquise, the bridge collapsed. It was rebuilt larger, drawbridge and with the characteristic shops in the center, but always made of wood. Other problems and new collapses are inevitable. In the mid-sixteenth century it was decided to build it in stone. Names of the caliber of Michelangelo, Andrea Palladio and Jacopo Sansovino. But it was only in 1588 that Antonio Da Ponte's project was chosen, which proposed the current single arch. It will be completed in 1591, Doge Pasquale Cicogna who "left" his coat of arms on the four sides of the bridge.
The most famous of the four bridges that cross the Grand Canal
The Rialto Bridge is the oldest, and certainly the most famous, of the four bridges (the others are those of the Accademia, degli Scalzi and Constitution) that cross the Grand Canal. It was the only one until 1854. It is made of Istrian stone, divided into three access ramps, with two rows of shops connected to each other, in the center, by two large arches. Its arch has a width of 28 meters at the base and is seven and a half meters high.
It is certainly one of the symbols - perhaps the best known of all - of the city of Venice. As well as a passage structure to cross the Grand Canal it is an extraordinary point of view to admire this waterway - with the banks and the beautiful buildings that surround it - about halfway along its path. On the one hand, the stretch of San Marco, La Salute, the Accademia, Ca 'Rezzonico. On the other hand, we head towards the railway station, passing by the Fontego dei Tedeschi, the Ca 'd'Oro, Ca' Pesaro, Ca 'Vendramin Calergi…. Obviously, from the top of the Rialto Bridge you cannot see all these historic buildings, but you have a clear idea of the majesty that characterizes the Grand Canal and its most famous bridge. An extraordinary point of view on Venice and its most beautiful and well-known waterway in the world.
Major restoration of the Rialto Bridge three years ago, financed by a Venetian entrepreneur
In the nearly five hundred years since its construction, the bridge has undergone numerous restorations and alterations, but not as important as the one that ended just over three years ago and sponsored by the owner of Diesel, the Venetian entrepreneur Enzo Red. A construction site that lasted about two years, cost 5 million euros and partially closed the bridge, without ever blocking it completely. Allowing that comings and goings of tourists and citizens that have always characterized it and that went on break only during the lockdown imposed by the Coronavirus.
