Venice, Veneto · 1932–33 · Bridge over the Rio Novo
At a glance
Known also as the Ponte del Rio Novo and the Ponte di San Pantalon, this is the bridge at the far end of Miozzi’s canal, where the new cut comes out near Ca’ Foscari and the Grand Canal. Built in 1932–33 with the rest of the operation, it carries the foot traffic between San Pantalon and the university.
Key facts
- Built: 1932–33, with the Rio Novo works
- Engineer: Eugenio Miozzi, chief engineer to the city of Venice
- Structure: stone arch with a columned balustrade
- Other names: Ponte del Rio Novo, Ponte di San Pantalon
- Location: Dorsoduro, at the Ca’ Foscari end of the Rio Novo
- Coordinates: 45.4347569, 12.3276659
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 long, low arch with a stone balustrade, crossing the canal at the point where it widens toward Ca’ Foscari. The buildings along the bank here are older than the water in front of them: the canal was cut through this fabric, not laid out with it, and the arcaded front on the far side ends abruptly where the digging stopped.
It is the busiest of the Rio Novo bridges, on the walking route between Piazzale Roma, San Pantalon and the university.
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 — the Rio Novo bridges: dating and structures
- Marascalchi Ingegneria — Ponti Rio Novo: Miozzi’s five bridges on the canal
- Coordinates supplied by the contributor and checked on the map
Record researched and written by Stefano Vigolo for Cultural Heritage Online, 2026.
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The bridge along the Rio Novo
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The arch towards Ca’ Foscari
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