Description of the attraction
Riva degli Schiavoni is the main promenade of Venice, dotted with numerous souvenir shops and shops and attracting crowds of tourists. This promenade offers breathtaking views of the impressive architectural creations of the great Andrea Palladio that dominate San Giorgio, an island south of Riva degli Schiavoni.
The embankment was founded on muddy deposits raised from the bottom of the Grand Canal in the 9th century. Its name comes from the name of the Slavic merchants Schiavoni, who delivered meat and fish to numerous local marinas and piers.
Riva degli Schiavoni begins just behind the Doge's Palace, then crosses the Rio del Palazzo along the Solomennoe Bridge - Ponte della Paglia, so named because in the past it was used to transport livestock feed. Ponte della Paglia is a popular tourist attraction in Venice and the best place to photograph another famous bridge, Ponte dei Sospiri, located 30 meters upstream. The Bridge of Sighs connects the Doge's Palace and Palazzo dei Prigioni. They say that this name was given to the bridge by Lord Byron, who himself heard the doomed sighs of the condemned, who were escorted across it to prison. Next to the old prison is the exclusive Danieli Hotel, once the residence of the Dandolo family. In the 1950s, a gaudy extension was made to this marvelous Byzantine Palazzo - the first construction on this site allowed since the assassination of the Doge Vitale Michele in 1172.
After the Danieli Hotel, Riva degli Schiavoni crosses the Rio del Vin Canal and follows an imposing cluster of bronze statues made by the sculptor Ettore Ferrari in honor of Vittorio Emmanuele, the first king of Italy. Further afield is the Church of Santa Maria della Visitazione, better known as La Pieta. It was once the parish church of Antonio Vivaldi, who wrote and performed a number of his works here. The Pieta is also notable for the 19th-century sculpture of the Madonna and Child by Marsili, who abandoned the traditional depiction of Christ majestically seated on the lap of the Virgin Mary. For Marsilia, Christ is a helpless child seeking a mother's embrace.
Riva degli Schiavoni ends at the point where another promenade begins - Riva Ca 'di Dio, which runs smoothly towards the Venetian Gardens, the site of the Venice Biennale.
