Bridge of Sighs

The Name Comes From Byron and the Romance Comes From Misunderstanding What It Was

The Bridge of Sighs – a roofed limestone bridge in Venice connecting the Doge’s Palace to the New Prison across the Rio di Palazzo canal – was completed around 1600, designed in Baroque style by Antonio Contino. Lord Byron romanticised it in his 1812 poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, implying that prisoners crossing it sighed at their last view of the lagoon before incarceration. The windows looking out are narrow stone lattices; the view from inside is minimal. Casanova, who escaped from the Piombi prison above the Doge’s Palace in 1756 and whose escape story is commonly connected to this bridge, actually escaped via the roof. The romantic version of the bridge is largely literary invention. The building itself is still genuinely beautiful.

Seeing the Bridge

The view most people want is from the Ponte della Paglia, immediately south on the Riva degli Schiavoni waterfront. From there the covered bridge is framed between the Doge’s Palace and the prison facade. This is one of the most photographed views in Venice and on a summer afternoon the Ponte della Paglia is packed to the railings.

Go before 07:30 or after 20:00. Morning light is softer, the canal reflections are better, and the waterfront is manageable. In the evening, the bridge is lit, the gondoliers have mostly stopped working, and the area returns to something closer to a city than a theme park.

Crossing It

To walk through the bridge you need to tour the Doge’s Palace (Palazzo Ducale). This is worthwhile entirely independently of the bridge. The Palace was the seat of Venetian government for centuries and contains Tintoretto’s Paradiso (1592) in the Great Council Chamber – claimed to be the largest oil painting in the world at approximately 22 by 7 metres – along with works by Veronese and Bellini.

Entry costs EUR 30 for adults. The Secret Itinerary tour (Itinerari Segreti) is an additional charge but accesses the hidden administrative and prison areas including the cells, and is revealing about Venetian statecraft in a way the main tour is not.

Note the Sala dello Scrutinio (Election Hall): one Doge portrait is deliberately blacked out. This is Marin Falier, who attempted a coup in 1355 and was beheaded on the very loggia you walk through on the way in. The Gothic stone carving on the external column capitals at ground level is among the finest in Italy; nobody looks at it because everyone is watching where they are going.

Eating Near San Marco

The San Marco area is reliably expensive and often disappointing for food. Walk three or four streets north toward the Rialto and the prices drop and the quality improves. Osteria alla Botte on Calle della Bissa is a reliable cicchetti bar: local wine by the glass, baccala mantecato, fried vegetables. Standing at the counter with a small glass of Soave is the correct way to eat in Venice. Trattoria alla Madonna near the Rialto has been operating since 1954, serves Venetian seafood without tourist pricing, and does not take reservations.

A single vaporetto ticket costs EUR 9.50; a 24-hour unlimited pass is EUR 25. The 25 to 30-minute walk from Santa Lucia station to the Bridge of Sighs through the city is the best introduction to Venice for first-time visitors.