Rialto Market

This is the belly of Venice. In the Erberia they sell the fruit and vegetables that come in from the lagoon islands, such as Sant'Erasmo, and under the loggia of the Pescaria, the fish. Come in the morning and you will see Venetians haggling over prices as they have for centuries.

1A district of trade

The Rialto was the Republic's financial centre: here were the money changers, the banks, the insurers and the offices that controlled trade. In 1514 a fire swept through the area. It was rebuilt with arcaded buildings, Scarpagnino's Fabbriche Vecchie and, later, Jacopo Sansovino's Fabbriche Nuove, which still line the canal.

2The fish loggia

The Pescaria may look medieval, but it dates from 1907: it was designed by Domenico Rupolo and the painter Cesare Laurenti in neo-Gothic style. Look at the capitals: they are full of fish, crabs and sea creatures. Look out too for the stone tablet setting the minimum size fish had to reach before they could be sold, a rule meant to protect the lagoon.

Opposite, on the far bank, gleams the Ca' d'Oro, built in the 1420s for Marino Contarini. Its name, "house of gold", comes from the gilding that once covered part of its facade.

Around the market are the bacari, Venetian taverns, where people have cicchetti, small snacks, with an ombra, a glass of wine.

3What to look for

• The sea-creature capitals of the Pescaria.
• The tablet of fish sizes.
• The Ca' d'Oro, across the Grand Canal.