Browse Descriptions for: Bridge of Sighs

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Rating: 5 | Votes: 1 | Date: 19/07/2026 20:30:00

An enclosed limestone bridge spanning the Rio di Palazzo connecting the Doge's Palace to the New Prisons, built in 1600 to an Antonio Contino design in the baroque style. The bridge's English name, coined by Lord Byron in the nineteenth century, refers to the sighs of condemned prisoners who supposedly took a last look at Venice through its small stone-grilled windows before descending into their cells. The reality of Venetian justice was more prosaic, but the romantic legend has made this one o...