Rialto Bridge

The oldest bridge across the Grand Canal was designed by a man whose surname literally means "of the Bridge." Antonio da Ponte beat out Michelangelo, Palladio, and Sansovino in a competition to replace the wooden drawbridge that had collapsed under the weight of a crowd watching a boat parade in 1444. The critics said his bold single-arch design would fall down. Five hundred years later, it's still standing.

Construction took just three years, from 1588 to 1591, and required 12,000 wooden pilings driven into the mud to support a structure that seemed to defy physics. The single stone arch spans 28 metres and rises 7.5 metres above the water, with no central support — everything rests on the foundations at each end. Three walkways snake between two rows of shops built right into the bridge, continuing a Venetian tradition of making every square inch earn its rent.

The Rialto has been the commercial heart of Venice for nearly a thousand years. "Rialto" comes from "rivo alto" — high bank — because this was the first area settled, the highest ground in the lagoon. The morning fish market at the foot of the bridge has been operating since 1097, making it one of the oldest continuously running markets in the world. Fishermen still unload the day's catch from boats directly onto the quay at dawn, and restaurants send their chefs to haggle over the freshest sea bass and cuttlefish.

Shakespeare set the dramatic centre of "The Merchant of Venice" here, and it was at the Rialto that news of the wider world first arrived in the city. The word "gazette" likely derives from the "gazeta," the small coin Venetians paid to read the news sheets sold near the bridge.