Bridge Sixty-Eight - Ponte dei Tre Archi

We didn't pause too long at the Ponte delle Guglie as I knew from previous research that the next bridge on the list, the Ponte dei Tre Archi is a special one. We spotted it from a distance while walking past the sidewalk cafés along the Cannaregio Canal, its distinctive Tuscan-red arches leapfrogging across the broad canal.

The Tre Archi is a relative latecomer to the world of Venetian bridges, as the age of bridges in Venice goes, having been first constructed in 1688. Apart from the oft-seen "stemmi" (broadly, coats-of arms that belonged to prominent Venetian families during days gone by) on the sides and keystones, the bridge has two niches that stand empty, as if the statues that were possibly once proudly stood there had run off, or gone for a walk. There's no record of what once were in these cavities, and old paintings of the bridge show nothing, but the mind's eye keeps wanting to complete the picture with a classical Roman statue.

There, we'd completed our detour to see one of the most picturesque bridges in Venice. We can now make our way back to our main route on the Grand Canal.