Bridge of Sighs

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Redirect Template:Infobox bridge

The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: Ponte dei Sospiri, Template:Langx) is a bridge in Venice, Italy. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone, has windows with stone bars, passes over the Rio di Palazzo, and connects the New Prison (Prigioni Nuove) to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. It was designed by Antonio Contin, whose uncle Antonio da Ponte designed the Rialto Bridge. It was built in 1600.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Etymology

File:Bridge of Sighs sea facade night 2.jpg

The Bridge of Sighs seen by night.

The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge's English name was bestowed by Lord Byron in the 19th century as a translation from the Italian "Ponte dei sospiri",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In culture

Numerous other bridges around the world have been nicknamed after the Bridge of Sighs — see Bridge of Sighs (disambiguation).

The 1861 opera Le pont des soupirs ("The Bridge of Sighs") by Jacques Offenbach has the name of the bridge as a title.

The Bridge of Sighs features heavily in the plot of the 1979 film A Little Romance. One of the characters tells of a tradition that if a couple kiss in a gondola beneath the Bridge of Sighs in Venice at sunset while the church bells toll, they will be in love forever.

Bridge of Sighs is the title of the second solo studio album released in April 1974 by English rock guitarist and songwriter, Robin Trower.

A Bridge of Sighs is mentioned in the opening line of “Itchycoo Park” by the Small Faces.

Marillion, an English progressive rock band, mentions the bridge in their song "Jigsaw", singing "We are renaissance children becalmed beneath the Bridge of Sighs".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Giles Corey, an American slowcore band, likewise mentions this bridge in their song "No One Is Ever Going To Want Me".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Renowned American architect H. H. Richardson used the bridge as inspiration when designing part of the Allegheny County Jail complex in Pittsburgh. It was completed in 1888 and features a similar enclosed arched walkway that connects the courthouse and jail, therefore bearing the same name.