Venice – what a romantic city, what great buildings and lovely canals, what an atmosphere for a tourist searching for an authentic Italian city! There are many world wide famous places in this endangered city, but there is a category that some visitors seem to forget about: the Venice bridges. Here are some of city’s most beautiful bridges that tourists have to keep in mind besides the regular attractions, after booking their hotels in Venice.

Image by Tambako the Jaguar

Ponte degli Scalzi

Designed by Eugenio Miozzi and completed in 1934, replacing an old Austrian iron bridge, this is one of the four bridges over the Grand Canal in Venice. This is the first bridge you will see in Venice, since it is the one built right in front of the train station. The bridge connects the sestieri (local urban subdivisions) of Santa Croce and Cannaregio.

Image by Cfuga

Ponte Tron or Ponte de la Piavola

Ponte Tron is one of more than 400 bridges that connect the archipelago of  118 islands divided by 150 canals in the Venetian lagoon. Although the constructors used the same salt-white Istrian stone one can see everywhere in Venice and vase profiles on the balustrade, due to its small size, the bridge is also called la piavola, the “doll’s bridge” in Veneziano.

Image by Wikipedia.

Ponte della Liberta

Not very impressive in style or history, this bridge connects Venice with the mainland, the city of Mestre. Designed in 1932 by the same Eugenio Miozzi and opened by Mussolini in 1933, the bridge became a symbol of the end of the Fascist dictatorship. Being 3.85 kilometers long and having two lanes each way, it was the biggest bridge in Italy when it was finished.

Image by be|design.

Ponte di Rialto

The oldest bridge across the Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge was completed in 1531. The two ramps of the bridge lead up to a central portico and there are no less than three walkways: two along the balustrades and one between two rows of shops. The bridge is 48 meters long, 22 meters wide and its arch is 7.5 meters long. The whole structure stands on 12,000 wooden pilings even today, after more than 400 years.

Image by llamnudds.

Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs)

Probably the most famous bridge in Venice, Ponte dei Sospiri was built in 1602, of white limestone. It passes Rio di Palazzo and it connects the old prison with the interrogation rooms. This was the last view that convicts saw after the imprisonment and it is said that they would sigh at the view of beautiful Venice. Legends say that kissing in a gondola at the sunset will lead to eternal love.

Image by artorusrex.

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