San Polo can claim to be where the modern archipelago of Venice began in the 9th century. While the administration of this great trading empire developed in the lower-lying sestiere of San Marco, San Polo remained where the international traders assembled and the Venetians shopped for fish, meat and vegetables. Still today there is a sense that once you have crossed the bling-central shopping excesses of the Rialto Bridge that here is the ‘real’ Venice, where merchants trade and locals drink wine, and tourists are welcome, but far from essential.
There is no better place to start an exploration of San Polo than on the world-famous Ponte di Rialto
1 . For 300 years this bridge was the only structure linking the two sides of Venice’s Grand Canal. On the eastern side lies the sestiere of San Marco, and across this bridge, San Polo. The Venetians settled here when they moved from a more vulnerable position on the Lido in the 8th century AD. The people of the Veneti chose this site because of its quay (riva) which was high (alta).
The white arched bridge that links the two is the first stone structure to stand on this spot since the first wooden bridge was built in the 12th century. It has three parallel stone staircases with two rows of stone shops running between them. Whereas the Ponte Vecchio in Florence reserves the river views for the back
