Ponte dei Sospiri

Exhalation and inhalation, slow and deep that manifests anxiety or upset. This is the definition of one of the symbolic places of Venice. Once again it is an emotion that describes a place where every year, millions and millions of people flock to see a bridge, which shows its beauty, for the history that surrounds it, even before the beauty of its architectural aesthetic. We are on the Ponte Della Paglia, and we are looking at the Rio di Palazzo, a narrow canal that divides the Palazzo Ducale from the Palazzo Delle Prigioni, and right there suspended between the two palaces stands the Bridge of Sighs. A completely enclosed arched hanging bridge. Built with magnificent Istrian marble, which an extraordinary Baroque style makes stunning, with decorations, details such as the heads of the masks affixed to the lower arch. Inside there are two narrow corridors divided by a solid wall and small perforated windows. From the Ponte Della Paglia, or from a gondola floating the Rio di Palazzo, we still see timeless prisoners passing by, with death in their hearts, having received the sentence from the state inquisitors, crossing the bridge before reaching the Venetian prisons. And they stop there, in front of those small windows, and fill their eyes and soul, for the last time in their life, with the vision of the lagoon, the island of San Giorgio, the beloved Venice and emit that poignant sigh that we still seem to hear today.