venice-txt-s
The Bridge of Sighs — Ponte dei Sospiri

Day 20: Saturday, April 30, 2005
Photos by Pat Tyler and Gertrude Meyer on May 9th 2005


BridgeofSighs(Ponte-de Sospiri)-043005-1221p
The Bridge of Sighs — Ponte dei Sospiri

Before leaving San Marco we must not overlook the Bridge of Sighs. This is an important landmark even though the ancient function of the bridge was not a happy one. It connects the Hall of the Magistrates to the New Prisons and many an unhappy creature had reason to sigh as he crossed it. So, there is good reason why this bridge was well above ground level. And perhaps this is a good reason why ancient Venetians so often wore masks to hide their identity!

Ernst Meyer stands near some of Venice's beautiful street lighting.
Ernst-StreetLight-050905-1215p
 
Door-050905-1253p
Once a door, now a window
with beautiful fan grillwork.


ScaffoldCover-PiazzaSanMarco-043005-128p
I love this custom of covering scaffolds.

Someone takes great pains to represent what is being covered. They did this in Rome too.

Click any image above to go to the next page, or use the navigation buttons below.