Bridge of Sighs in Venice, Italy

July 17, 2014

Our tour of Italy concluded in Venice on Tues. One of the landmarks there is the Bridge of Sighs, seen here at center.

Bridge of Sighs in Venice. Photo ©Leon Mauldin.

Bridge of Sighs in Venice. Photo ©Leon Mauldin.

Wikipedia has this info:

The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: Ponte dei Sospiri) is a bridge located in Venice, northern Italy. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone and has windows with stone bars. It passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the New Prison (Prigioni Nuove) to the interrogation rooms in the Doge’s Palace. It was designed by Antonio Contino (whose uncle Antonio da Ponte had designed the Rialto Bridge) and was built in 1600.

The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge name, given by Lord Byron in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells. In reality, the days of inquisitions and summary executions were over by the time the bridge was built and the cells under the palace roof were occupied mostly by small-time criminals. In addition, little could be seen from inside the Bridge due to the stone grills covering the windows.

A local legend says that lovers will be granted eternal love and bliss if they kiss on a gondola at sunset under the Bridge of Sighs as the bells of St Mark’s Campanile toll. This legend served as a plot line for the movie A Little Romance, featuring Laurence Olivier and Diane Lane.

We are thankful for safe arrival back home yesterday PM.

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Posted by Leon Mauldin

A Day in Venice

March 14, 2012

We started off the day at perhaps the most famous square in the world, St. Mark’s Square, which features the Basilica di San Marco.The Rough Guide describes it as “the most exotic of Europe’s cathedrals” and observes that it was

modeled on Constantinople’s Church of the Twelve Apostles, the shrine of St. Mark was consecrated in 832, but in 976 both the church and the Palazzo Ducale were ruined by fire during an uprising against the doge. The present basilica was originally finished in 1094 and embellished over the succeeding centuries (p.327)

This shot shows some of our group at St. Mark’s Square as the morning began.

Group shot at St. Mark's Square. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

Among other sights we saw the Bridge of Sighs. From Wikipedia:

The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone and has windows with stone bars. It passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the old prisons to the interrogation rooms in the Doge’s Palace. It was designed by Antoni Contino (whose uncle Antonio da Ponte had designed the Rialto Bridge), and built in 1602.

One legend is that this bridge received it name from the prisoners sighing as they were walked across the bridge, seeing the outdoors, as well as breathing fresh air, for the last time.

Bridge of Sighs in background, with Linda and Leon Mauldin.

Tomorrow morning we are to travel to Florence, stopping at Pisa along the way.

Click on images for larger view.

UPDATE:
Nancy Picogna has downloaded some of her photos from the past two days. You may see there here and here.

2 Comments | Italy, Travel | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Leon Mauldin

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