A stone bridge with two names and three stories behind them: salt, a family nickname, and salted cod.
At a glance
The Ponte de Ca’ Balà crosses the Rio de la Fornace on the Zattere, in the sestiere of Dorsoduro, and joins the Fondamenta Zattere ai Saloni to the Fondamenta Zattere allo Spirito Santo. It stands beside the Magazzini del Sale, the Republic’s salt warehouses, and is also known as the Ponte dei Saloni. It is a footpath bridge: the Comune di Venezia fits it with temporary ramps from September to June, on the walking route from the Zattere to the former Ospedale degli Incurabili, today the Accademia di Belle Arti.
Key facts
- Crosses: the Rio de la Fornace, Dorsoduro
- Joins: Fondamenta Zattere ai Saloni and Fondamenta Zattere allo Spirito Santo
- Structure: stone bridge; brick and stone, with iron bands in oblique crosses and diamonds (Conoscere Venezia)
- Other name: Ponte dei Saloni
- Access: on foot; temporary ramps from September to June (Comune di Venezia)
- GPS: 45.4285, 12.3329 · Open in Google Maps (OpenStreetMap)
History and the two names
The bridge takes its older name from the Fondamenta dei Saloni. Conoscere Venezia records three explanations for «Saloni»: some historians link it to the salt warehouses built here at the end of the seventeenth century; others to a colony of refugees from Salona, in Dalmatia; the explanation the site prefers comes from a manuscript in the Biblioteca Marciana, which places in this area the Dalle Fornaci family, nicknamed «Saloni» because of their habit of naming their sons Assalonne. The family, from Marano in Friuli, is documented in Venice from the fourteenth century; one of them, Alessandro, became Grand Chancellor in 1470, and the Venetian branch died out in 1735.
The name «Ca’ Balà» is less settled. A local account reports that the bridge and the nearby fondamenta were originally called «del Baccalà», after the dried salted cod stored and traded here, and notes that other readings exist; none is documented beyond dispute, and this page does not choose between them.
Two small pieces of history belong to the same stretch of fondamenta. A theatre was active on the Fondamenta dei Saloni between 1651 and 1689, and in 1670 it staged operas, among them «Argene» with music by Antonio Caldara. The painter Giambattista Piazzetta lived at the Ponte dei Saloni, where he died on the evening of 28 April 1754.
What you see
A single low arch in stone over a narrow rio, with brick parapets and stone steps on both banks. Behind it runs the long, plain brick front of the salt warehouses along the Zattere, and beyond the rio the fondamenta continues towards the Spirito Santo and the Incurabili. The iron bands that strengthen the parapets are set in oblique crosses and diamonds.
Nearby
- Magazzini del Sale — the Republic’s salt warehouses, right beside the bridge
- Punta della Dogana — at the eastern end of the Zattere
Sources
- Conoscere Venezia, Ponte dei Saloni o de Cà Balà sul Rio de la Fornace: the rio and the two fondamente, the structure in brick and stone with iron bands, the three explanations of «Saloni», the Dalle Fornaci family, the theatre of 1651–1689, Piazzetta
- Comune di Venezia, Zattere: the temporary ramps from September to June on the Ponte Cà Balà and the Ponte degli Incurabili, the route to the former Incurabili, now the Accademia di Belle Arti
- Venice Cafè, La Fondamenta di Ca’ Balà e il baccalà: the «del Baccalà» reading of the name, and the fact that it is disputed
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