It's one of the most dressed-up of the smaller stone bridges we've seen so far, with six mascarons or decorated keystones and a stemma made up of three coats of arms adorning each side of the bridge. The mascaroni were made up of eight clown-like, grimacing faces and four lion heads, all in remarkably good condition so it's likely they'd been renovated recently.
The bridge leads onto an elongated campo with the Scuola Grande dei Carmini sitting at one end. It's another once-glorious institution now housing art exhibitions and events to earn its upkeep, and here large advertisements on easels beside the renaissance-style doorway reminded passers-by about its 'stagione concertistica' - concert season - that featured masked opera pieces from well-known composers like Verdi and Rossini.
We were noticing a pattern emerging in the types and condition of bridges we were seeing. Most well-adorned and beautiful bridges were close to churches, palaces and other noteworthy buildings that were patronised by the aristocracy of Venice. The smaller and sometimes rather unkempt bridges were to be found in residential neighbourhoods and perhaps historically less affluent areas of the city.
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