The gondolier poled in silence until we had reached the middle of the Canal Grande together with many other gondolas, bobbing gently in the wake of the Vaporetto which was ploughing its way over to the Ca d’oro.

In front of the Rialto he told us about the bridge: it had been built by Antonio da Ponte in place of an earlier wooden bridge, it consisted of a single arch, and each pier rested on six thousand piles.