Ponte del Lovo

Just a few yards from Rialto bridge lies Ponte del Lovo, the only bridge in Venice from which it is possible to see Saint Mark’s bell tower. Just a few yards from Rialto bridge lies Ponte del Lovo, the only bridge in Venice from which it is possible to see Saint Mark’s bell tower. 

Although the bridge is officially named after the Lovo family, in the 11th century it was not unusual to find wolves roaming the north western banks of the lagoonand, indeed, the names of both the bridge and a long strip of land known as Punta dei Lovi (destroyed in 1339 to prevent the advance of enemies of the city of Venice) make reference to this fact, the Venetian dialect word for wolf being ‘lovo’.

Furthermore, the noblemen of Venice regularly used to hunt boar, bears and deer in the forests surrounding the city and fish and shoot ducks and other migratory birdsfrom the beaches of the nearby coastal town of Caorle. Unusually, the crossbows used by these huntsmen did not release arrows, but rather “bullets” of clay.