Venice, Veneto · 1933 · Bridge over the Rio Novo
At a glance
The Ponte de la Sbiaca crosses the Rio Novo in Dorsoduro, one of the five bridges Miozzi built along his new canal in 1933. It is a single stone arch with a balustrade of small columns, and on its flank, in a carved roundel, a lion of Saint Mark now split by a crack in the stone.
Key facts
- Built: 1933, for the opening of the Rio Novo
- Engineer: Eugenio Miozzi, chief engineer to the city of Venice
- Structure: brick and stone arch, with Istrian-stone bands
- Balustrade: Istrian stone, with small columns
- Detail: a lion of Saint Mark in a carved roundel
- Location: Dorsoduro, on the Rio Novo
- Coordinates: 45.4356679, 12.3215439
History
By 1930 Piazzale Roma had become the road terminus of Venice, and the way into the city by water — the long curve of the Grand Canal — was a bottleneck. The answer was to cut a new canal straight through the built fabric: the Rio Novo, excavated between 1931 and 1933 under Eugenio Miozzi, the city’s chief engineer, through the Papadopoli garden and a swathe of demolished warehouses, alleys and courtyards, to shorten the run from Piazzale Roma toward Ca’ Foscari and San Marco.
New water meant new crossings. Miozzi built five bridges over the Rio Novo — the Papadopoli, the Cereria, the Sbiaca, Santa Margherita and Ca’ Foscari — and rebuilt the Tre Ponti where the new canal met the old ones. They went up in a single campaign in 1933, and they are among the few pieces of twentieth-century infrastructure that Venice absorbed without argument.
What you see
A single shallow arch, white against the green water, with steps on both sides and a balustrade of stubby stone columns. Behind it on one bank stands a glass-fronted modern block — the corner of Venice where the twentieth century arrived twice, first with the canal and then with the buildings along it.
Set into the stone is a roundel with the winged lion of Saint Mark, book under its paw. A crack runs clean across the stone and through the animal, which has not been repaired.
The bridge today
Practical information
- A public crossing, open at all hours and free.
- Steps on both sides; there is no ramp.
Getting there
The Rio Novo runs from Piazzale Roma toward Ca’ Foscari; all its bridges are within a few minutes’ walk of each other, and of the Piazzale Roma vaporetto stops.
Nearby
- Ponte del Pagan — a 1933 bridge on Venice’s Rio Novo
- Ponte de la Cereria — Miozzi’s Rio Novo, 1933
- Ponte degli Scalzi — Miozzi’s stone arch at the station
Sources
- Conoscere Venezia — Ponte de la Sbiaca sul Rio Novo: dating, structure, Istrian-stone bands
- OpenStreetMap — location
Record researched and written by Stefano Vigolo for Cultural Heritage Online, 2026.
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The lion of Saint Mark, split by a crack
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The bridge from the new quayside
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The arch and its balustrade
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