:

VENICE.

PONTE RIALTO.

Drawn by C. Stanfield, Esq., A.R.A.

"Venice once was dear,

The pleasant place of all festivity,

The revel of the earth, the masque of Italy!

But unto us she hath a spell beyond
Her name in story, and her long array
Of mighty shadows, whose dim forms despond
About the dogeless city's vanished sway;

Our's is a trophy which will not decay

With the Rialto; Shylock, and the Moor,

And Pierre, cannot be swept away —

The keystones of the arch! though all were o'er,

For us repeopled were the solitary shore."

Childe Harold, canto iv. st. 3 and 4.

RIALTO is an English abbreviation. It is the name, not of the bridge, but of an island, one of the mud banks, and one of the first occupied by the founders of Venice; anciently it was called the Ripa Alta, or Riva Alta. The arch of this bridge, the largest in span in the city, connects the Rialto with other parts of Venice, and is called by the inhabitants, not il Rialto, but

Il Ponte di Rialto, as we say Westminster Bridge. On the island is the Exchange, where the merchants of this most celebrated commercial city met foreigners of every nation in correspondence with Venice, but principally Italians from other states of Italy, French, English, Spaniards, and Turks.

The present bridge of the Rialto was commenced in the year 1588, and completed in three years. Pasquali Cicogna was then Doge of Venice, and his arms appear in the centre of the arch. Vasari says the arch was built from a design made long before by Michael Angelo; and it is curious to observe, upon what in our day would by comparison appear to be a contemptible work, how great names are pressed into the honour of having built it. Palladio and Scamozzi were said to have exerted their genius upon it, and Sansovino to have presented a plan to the Venetians. It is, however, built from a design furnished by Antonio da Ponte, the grandeur of what he had accomplished, in the opinion of his countrymen, probably furnishing the surname. This bridge, which is only eighty-three feet span, is approached by steps, for the curve of the arch is very abrupt. Upon it are two rows of shops, and three paths across it, the principal one between the shops in the centre, the other two on the sides between the shops and the balustrades. The shops are chiefly furnished with jewellery, haberdashery, perfumes, and articles for the toilette.