Virtual Tour

Rialto and San Polo: the Market and the Guilds — Filmed by Andrea Manzo

Curated by Andrea Manzo

Eight stops from the oldest bridge on the Grand Canal through the market, the stone Venice read its sentences from, the fish hall with the minimum sizes carved in marble, the bridge on the edge of the licensed quarter, and the three great halls of San Giovanni Evangelista, the Frari and San Rocco.

8stops

1.8km

1h 59mduration

easydifficulty

all-yearbest season

View on full map →

About this virtual tour

Eight stops around the Rialto market and into San Polo, each opened by a short video that Andrea Manzo filmed and narrated in English on the spot. The walk starts on the Rialto Bridge, completed in 1591 by Antonio da Ponte, and ends at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and its cycle of more than sixty paintings by Tintoretto.

Along the way: San Giacomo di Rialto, which Venetians call San Giacometto, with its clock of 1410; the Gobbo di Rialto, the granite stump from which sentences were proclaimed; the fish market hall of 1907; the Ponte de le Tette at the edge of the old licensed quarter; the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, founded in 1261; and the Gothic brick basilica of the Frari.

The route is 1.8 km on foot, about 25 minutes of walking; with time at each stop, plan on about two hours. You can also follow it from home: every video plays on this page, stop by stop.

What you get

8 short videos by Andrea Manzo, filmed at each stop and narrated in English: about eight minutes in all, one to two minutes per stop.
The walking route on the map, stop by stop.
GPX and KML files to follow the route on your phone or in a navigation app.
The story of every stop, on its own page.

Before you buy

How much does it cost?

€14, paid once, VAT included. There is no subscription.

Do I have to be in Venice?

No. The videos play on this page, so you can watch the tour at home before a trip, or after one. On the spot, the map and the GPX file take you from one stop to the next.

How do I watch the videos after buying?

The confirmation email brings a private link to this page that opens the videos and the downloads. If you buy with the email of your Cultural Heritage Online account, the videos also open when you are signed in.

Who made the videos?

Andrea Manzo filmed and narrated them on site. Cultural Heritage Online wrote the pages of the stops and checked their facts.

Are there other tours?

Andrea Manzo filmed four walks in Venice. The other three are The North of Venice: Cannaregio, Castello and St Mark’s, Santo Stefano and Dorsoduro.

Self-guided itinerary

Get this route — explore at your own pace

€14.00 / person

What it is. A self-guided cultural itinerary you can walk whenever you like — all 8 stops, at your own pace.
What you get. The full route with maps and downloadable GPX/KML tracks, plus the story of each site.
What you need. Just your phone — the route and tracks are emailed to you right after purchase.

🔒 Secure payment. The fee goes directly to the guide — CHO keeps only a 1% transaction-handling cost. Refund policy

Travel tips from CHO

Go on the first Sunday of the month

State museums, archaeological parks and monuments across Italy open free of charge on the first Sunday of every month. It covers state-run sites only — civic and private museums set their own prices — and there is nothing to claim: you simply walk in.

The ministry’s free days →

In September, the doors that are usually shut open

For one long weekend every September, some fifty European countries run the European Heritage Days together: palaces, workshops, archives and private houses that are closed the rest of the year let visitors in, almost always for nothing. Italy sets its own dates, and they are published a few weeks ahead.

Dates, country by country →

Arrive already connected

Maps, opening hours and tickets all need data, and roaming outside your own network still costs more than the ticket. A travel eSIM for Italy installs on your phone before you leave home and works the moment you land — no queue at the airport, no physical card to swap.

Data plans for Italy →Affiliate link — what this means

Step by step

The Rialto Bridge – Virtual Tour 360°

The oldest of the four bridges across the Grand Canal, completed in 1591 by Antonio da Ponte after a competition that included Michelangelo, Palladio…

Virtual tour · video by Andrea Manzo — Get the ticket to watch it →

Dwell ~10min

San Giacomo di Rialto: the clock of 1410 and the last Gothic porch in Venice

The church Venetians call San Giacometto: tradition makes it the oldest in the city, its clock dates from 1410, and its small porch of stone and wood is the only original one left in Venice.

Dwell ~10min

The Gobbo di Rialto: the stone Venice read its sentences from

A stump of red granite with a stair beside it, in Campo San Giacomo di Rialto: the point from which heralds proclaimed sentences, and where a condemned thief's run through the city ended.

Dwell ~5min

Pescaria di Rialto, Venice – Virtual Tour 360°

Venice, Veneto · built in 1907 · a twentieth-century building that pretends to be Gothic, over a market eight centuries […]

Dwell ~10min

Ponte de le Tette: the bridge that marked the edge of the licensed quarter

The bridge over the Rio de San Cassan marks the edge of the Carampane, the quarter to which late-fourteenth-century Venice moved its registered prostitutes, far from any church.