Ponte dell'Accademia

45°25′54″N 12°19′44″E / 45.431644°N 12.328972°E / 45.431644; 12.328972

Ponte dell'Accademia
Ponte dell'Accademia with the Accademia vaporetto station visible in the background
Love padlock talismans at Ponte dell'Accademia

The Ponte dell'Accademia is one of only four bridges to span the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It crosses near the southern end of the canal, and is named for the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, which from 1807 to 2004 was housed in the Scuola della Carità together with the Gallerie dell'Accademia, which is still there. The bridge links the sestieri of Dorsoduro and San Marco.[1]

A bridge on the site was first suggested as early as 1488. The provveditore Luca Tron proposed in the council to build two bridges across the Grand Canal, one here and the other at Santa Sofia. The members of the council, however, laughed at him, and the motion was not even put to the vote. The original steel structure, designed by Alfred Neville, opened on 20 November 1854,[2] but was demolished and replaced by a wooden bridge designed by Eugenio Miozzi and opened in 1933,[3] despite widespread hopes for a stone bridge.[citation needed]

Lovers have attempted to attach padlocks ("love locks") to the metal hand rails of the bridge, but Venetian authorities have successfully cracked down on this.[4]

  1. ^ "Ponte dell'Accademia". Venice Sights. Lonely Planet. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  2. ^ Venice on Foot: With the Itinerary of the Grand Canal, by Hugh Douglas, 1907, page 60.
  3. ^ "Ponte dell'Accademia". en.Broer.no. Broer. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  4. ^ Squires, Nick (24 August 2011). "Venice cracks down on 'love locks'". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Retrieved August 25, 2011.