Bridge of Sighs

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The Ponte dei Sospiri - the Bridge of Sighs - in Venice

View from the Bridge of Sighs

The Bridge of Sighs at night

The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: Ponte dei Sospiri) is one of many bridges in Venice. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone and has windows with stone bars. It passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the old prisons to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. It was designed by Antoni Contino (whose uncle Antonio da Ponte had designed the Rialto Bridge), and built in 1602.

The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge name, given by Lord Byron in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice out the window before being taken down to their cells. In reality, the days of inquisitions and summary executions were over by the time the bridge was built, and the cells under the palace roof were occupied mostly by small-time criminals^[1]

Cultural references

The following are mentions and references of the Bridge of Sighs in popular culture:

Literature

• In 2007, novelist Richard Russo published Bridge of Sighs (novel), a novel set in Venice and in a small fictional town in upstate New York.

• In his novel Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow mentions "the Bridge of Sighs, the iron catwalk that connected the Tombs with the Criminal Courts Building" in Gilded Age New York City.

• 1869 Mark Twain's book, Innocents Abroad, (Chapter 22) he goes under this bridge in a Gondola and describes the bridge in context with the masked judges and masked executioners and the Council of Three.

• The Bridge of Sighs appears on the cover of the novel 'The Thief Lord' by German author Cornelia Funke.

• "The Bridge of Sighs" is a novel written by French author Michel Zevaco.

• In her novel " Pretend You Don't See Her," Mary Higgins Clark makes reference to the Bridge; as a murder victim's father looks upon paintings of his daughter.

Music

• The Charles Aznavour song "Que C'est Triste Venise" references the bridge in most of the versions Aznavour recorded it in. "Bridge of Sighs" is also the title track of an 1974 album by Robin Trower.

• The bridge is also mentioned in the Marillion song "Jigsaw", from their 1984 album Fugazi, in the The Small Faces' hit song "Itchycoo Park", in the Gerard Lenorman song "Voici les Clefs", and in the David Sylvian song "I Surrender", from his 1999 album Dead Bees on a Cake.

• The Bridge of Sighs also has a brief mention in the title track of Blackfield's debut album, Blackfield of 2004 during the second verse. A project formed by Porcupine Tree founding member Steven Wilson and acclaimed Israeli Singer Songwriter Aviv Geffen.

• Robin Trower released a studio album in 1974 called "Bridge of Sighs" bearing a title track of the same name. A hidden track on Metallica's Garage, Inc. consists of an instrumental piece of the Robin Trower song. The Swedish heavy metal band Opeth released a cover of Trower's "Bridge of Sighs" on the special edition of their 2008 studio album, Watershed.
• Denise Ho released her song "Bridge of Sighs" in her 2006 EP. She performed this song on her concert HOCC Live in Unity 2006
• Marillion song Jigsaw references the bridge in the verse "We are Renaissance children becalmed beneath the bridge of sighs, forever throwing firebrands at the stonework." Jazz artist Michael Franks also mentions the bridge of sighs in his song titled "Meet me in the deer park"

In the Roxy Music song"A Song for Europe" Bryan Ferry sings"Through silken waters my gondola glides and the bridge it sighs."

• The Winston Jazz Routine has an album entitled Sospiri in which they have two songs "venice" and "the bridge of sighs"

Movies

• A Little Romance (1979).

Theatre

• The Bridge of Sighs is referenced in Howard Barker's 1985 play, Scenes from an Execution. "URGENTINO: There is a bridge over there. On one side of the bridge there is a carpet. And on the other side of the bridge there is bare stone. And on this side of the bridge there are cushions, and on the other side there is straw. And on this side there are windows, but on the other side it is dark. On this side we laugh, and on that side they cry. Do you know the bridge? GALACTIA: The Bridge of Sighs." (291)^[2]

The Bridge of Sighs is also referenced in the musical "Little Women" when Laurie and Amy are singing about his proposal in Venice under said bridge...the song is called "The Most Amazing Thing".

Manga

• The Bridge is prominently featured in Aria book 1 - navigation (chapter) 3 titled 'The Bridge of Sighs'

Architecture

• The Bridge of Sighs served as a model for a similarly constructed bridge between the Allegheny County Courthouse and the old county jail in downtown Pittsburgh, PA.

Video games

• The Bridge of Sighs was the name of a level in Homeworld.

See also

The name "Bridge of Sighs" has since been applied by association to other similar covered bridges around the world, including:

• Puente de los Suspiros ("Bridge of Sighs" in Spanish), a bridge in the city of Barranco, Lima, Peru
• a bridge in Cambridge, England
• a bridge in Oxford, England
• a bridge in Stockholm, Sweden
• a bridge in Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• a bridge in Pittsburgh, The United States of America, connecting the Allegheny County Courthouse proper to the jail building, both designed by American architect H.H. Richardson in 1884
• the bridge which spans the Swan Boat pond in Boston's Public Garden is sometimes jokingly referred to as the "Bridge of Size," a play on words based on the small bridge's vastly overbuilt look
• the ramp leading to the slaughterhouse in the old Chicago stockyards

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ponte dei Sospiri

• Bridge of Sighs in the Structurae database

Coordinates: 45°26′02″N 12°20′27″E / 45.43389°N 12.34083°E / 45.43389; 12.34083