Bridge of Sighs

You are standing on the Ponte de la Paglia, and what everyone is photographing is right in front of you: the Bridge of Sighs. It is an enclosed passage of Istrian stone, the white stone that resists salt water, joining the Doge's Palace, on the left, with the New Prisons, on the right.

1A corridor of justice

It was built in the early 17th century, between 1600 and 1603, to a design by Antonio Contin, nephew of Antonio da Ponte, who built the Rialto Bridge. It was commissioned by Doge Marino Grimani, whose coat of arms you will see at the top. Inside are two corridors, kept separate so that prisoners would not cross paths. Through them, detainees were led from the cells to the magistrates' chambers and back again.

The New Prisons were one of the first buildings in Europe designed specifically as a jail, separate from the seat of government. The most feared cells, however, remained inside the palace itself.

2Why "of Sighs"?

The name is already recorded at the end of the 18th century. It is explained by the sighs of prisoners catching a last glimpse of the lagoon through the grilles. Lord Byron made it famous across Europe in 1818: "I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs; / A palace and a prison on each hand".

The romantic idea of kissing in a gondola under the bridge at sunset is far more recent: a modern tradition, not a custom of the Republic.

3What to look for

• The stone grilles of the two little windows.
• Doge Grimani's coat of arms at the top of the bridge.
• The two buildings: the palace on one side, the prison on the other.