The Bridge of Sighs is the Italian bridge in Venice that connects the Doge’s Palace with a historic prison.
Built from white limestone in the early seventeenth century, the enclosed bridge crosses the Rio di Palazzo. It linked the palace’s courtroom and administrative areas with the prisons, allowing prisoners to be moved between them.
The bridge was designed by Antonio Contin and completed in 1603. Its small windows are covered by stone grilles, and its enclosed passageway is divided into two parallel corridors.
The romantic name became popular after Lord Byron used it in the nineteenth century. Tradition says prisoners sighed as they caught their last view of Venice through the windows, though the bridge’s practical purpose was judicial and custodial.