Venice 2018: Rialto Bridge

There’s no straight-line route from Piazza San Marco to Rialto Bridge but there are signs you can follow to make sure you’re heading the right way. When we got to Rialto we took some photos from down on the side of it before going onto the bridge itself. Rialto Bridge is the oldest bridge in Venice that crosses the Grand Canal and there have been several versions of it over the centuries. Originally it was a pontoon bridge that was built in 1181, which was replaced by a wooden bridge in 1255, and then in 1591 the stone bridge we see today was completed. Like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, the Rialto Bridge is covered in shops. The neighborhood around the bridge used to be the merchant center of the city, which is why there are a lot of businesses on and around Rialto. The shops on the bridge seem to be mainly selling to the tourist crowds but it can be fun to do some window shopping there while crossing the bridge. We spent a few minutes looking around Rialto and taking photos on the bridge before we crossed to the other side of the Grand Canal to continue our trek around the city.