The Rialto Bridge: between San Marco and San Polo

Spanning the Grand Canal with a single 7.5 m high arch, the Rialto Bridge remained the only link between the two banks of historic Venice until the 19th century. It was completed in 1591, following the construction of several wooden bridges. From the 13th century onwards, an entire commercial district grew up around the Rialto, the heart of the Serenissima's economic activities.

The Rialto Bridge, a superb structure, is now central to the tourist pilgrimage to Piazza San Marco. Too crowded, it is quickly replaced by the Rialto markets (Mercati di Rialto*), the last remaining witnesses to this area's commercial past, on the banks of the Grand Canal.

Early in the morning, from 7am, the Rialto markets display their well-stocked stalls on Campo Beccarie and around the arcades of the Fabbriche Nuove: seasonal fruit and vegetables, fresh local produce, perfectly complemented by fish and shellfish freshly arrived on Campo della Pescheria. A real treat if you have cooking facilities in your Venetian pied-à-terre!

On the left bank of the Rialto Bridge, you enter the Sestiere San Marco. Let's leave the Piazza San Marco, which deserves our full attention, for once and venture into the old centre of Venice.

Each campo (square) is a landmark and a pleasant place to stop: campo San Luca, campo San Fantin, campo Sant'Anzalo and, of course, the great campo Santo Stefano with its café terraces. The district is home to a profusion of boutiques and big-name shops, restaurants that fill up, and a host of upmarket hotels... Venice's beautiful neighbourhoods, if you will.

In the heart of San Marco stands an institution of Venice's cultural life: its famous opera house, La Fenice. Boasting a splendid auditorium where the great arias of the repertoire are still performed (Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi all wrote here), La Fenice (the Phoenix) lives up to its name: it was destroyed and rebuilt twice, in 1836 and more recently in 1996, following tragic fires.

This time, let's explore the right bank of the Grand Canal, from the Rialto markets. We're in the smallest sestiere in Venice, San Polo. The district has retained its cosmopolitan feel, inherited from the heyday of 15th-century merchant Venice, but today it's the camera-wielding tourists who populate the area around the Rialto.

Many of Venice's finest buildings can be found in this area. The area around the Grand Canal, like the campi de San Polo, is full of architectural surprises, such as the admirable palaces of campo San Polo, or the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, on campo dei Frari, the largest in Venice, housing paintings by Bellini and Titian.

But San Polo is best explored on a whim, following a narrow alleyway, crossing a small bridge over a deserted canal, to reach a new campo, a new church, a new palace... Not forgetting, in a more prosaic way, the little souvenir shops, the neighbourhood grocery shops, the ice cream parlours, the local cafés, as well as a few good restaurants where you can sample Venetian specialities...